Back into action
by Advina
Summary: Having left his previous life behind, Bolt now lives a common life in company of his two best friends. However, the appearance of some new faces will change things and show Bolt, Mittens and Rhino that nothing is what it seems and that it is only the beginning of something bigger.
1. A common beginning?

Chapter 1: A common beginning?

It had been a few months since the day Penny had taken the picture with her three best friends; this photo was currently lying in a picture frame in the middle of a house in California. The girl now went to school and led a normal life, as did her pets, which were now playing in the courtyard of the house.

"Come on! Or are you already tired, dog?" Mittens shouted to Bolt as she ran, holding Rhino´s sphere with one of her paws, which they were using as a playball (with him inside it).

"Of course not, I´m just warming up," the shepherd replied as he gained speed to reach her out and take the sphere from her. The he started running in the opposite direction, away from Mittens. "Now catch me if you can!"

"Oh no, not that," she said playfully as she struggled to catch up with Bolt. However, he was much faster, and would have left her behind, had it not been for the white dog suddenly stopped dead, causing Mittens to collide with him and sending both to the ground, she on top of him, while Rhino shot out inside his ball.

"What happened, Bolt?"

"Sorry," he replied, still on the floor. "For a second I thought I saw… Ah, it was nothing."

Then they realized how close they were to each other, for they had not moved after the crash; they looked into each other's eyes without saying anything, getting lost in each other´s gaze. For one second, it was a wonderful moment. Then the moment was over.

"Ahem," Apparently, Rhino was back. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing," they both said in unison as they parted and looked away. It seemed as if the hamster was going to insist, but then they heard Penny´s voice from the house, calling them.

"Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, I'm home! Come on, time to eat!"

Taking advantage of the girl´s call, Bolt ran into the house, mentally thanking Penny for getting him out of that situation; his two friends were not left behind, and arrived shortly after him to the kitchen, where their food was already served. Mealtime passed in silence, it seemed that every one of them was thinking. Shortly after, Rhino was the first one to finish.

"Well, if you look for me, I´ll be watching the magic box." He said as he headed for the living room.

"I´ll be outside by the tree," Bolt told Mittens before leaving the kitchen, but the cat seemed to be lost in her thoughts. "Mittens, are you okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah. I think I´ll go upstairs to take a little nap." She answered quickly before running off to Penny´s room.

Each of the three spent all the afternoon submerged in their own thoughts, although all of them were referring to the same subject.

Bolt´s P.O.V.

 _What was that when we were playing? When she was on top of me, it felt, well, well. It´s not the first time, I´ve been feeling this strange thing in my chest whenever I´m near her, and it feels good, but I don´t know what… could it be love? Is it possible that I am falling in love with Mittens? Is that a right thing? I mean, she is my best friend, she showed me the real world and how to be a normal dog too. But, love? I don´t know. I would have to talk to someone, though I don´t think Rhino knows much about it; he always complains when there is something romantic on T.V. No, I have to find someone I can talk about this. And I need to think it over. I have to clear my mind._

Mittens´ P.O.V.

 _I don´t know how longer I´ll be able to keep quiet. For a long time I´ve wanted to tell him how I feel but… I´m not sure how would he take it. He is my best friend after all; and being near him, having his company, is the best thing I could ask for. Besides, he´s a dog, and I´m a cat; how abnormal is that? How would others see us? Even though, well, they say love knows no boundaries, but it is different to say than to do. But that doesn´t matter, what worries me most is his reaction. He might not feel the same; he might take it the wrong way. I would not like to tell him and be rejected by him. I could not live with that. I know exactly what I feel for him, but that doesn´t make it any easier. I have to think this more, I have to plan it._

Rhino´s P.O.V.

 _Now what´s going on with those two always behaving strangely when the other one´s around? It´s like they have a secret or something. But what could it be? No idea, but it´s probably important, for them at least. Maybe I can get some information, but I would have to ask the very exact question. And I could start by seeing since when they behave like that… yes, it would help me to get an idea about it. But I´ll have to give myself time to analyze it better._

That was it for the rest of the afternoon. At dinner time, the three of them gathered in the kitchen, once more, without saying a word until they had finished. A little later they went up to Penny´s room to sleep. The last thing they said to each other was "Good night." before laying back and falling asleep.

* * *

Meanwhile, not far from the house, among some shrubs, two shadows were watching.

"Tell me again why are we here." Asked the first one to the second; its voice sounded thick but the tone it used was rather than that of a child.

"Because we received orders to watch over them," This one had a sweet, soft and tender voice, but the intonation was mature. "We have to be aware of what´s happening in that house."

"Do you want me to come in?"

"Don´t be reckless! We have to stay on the sidelines."

"Me? Reckless?" The first one echoed. "You´re the one who always ends up giving us away and…"

"Leave it, now. It looks like nothing will happen tonight, so let´s go back to the camp."

"Alright,"

So the two shadows ran out of their hideout and towards a nearby forest at an impressive speed, getting lost in the darkness of the night.

* * *

 **Hi there everyone, this is it for the first chapter. I´d like to say that reviews are more than welcome, specially if you spotted any grammar or spelling mistakes since I´ve already finished this story, and I´m just translating it (with a little help from google translator, I´ll admit) because of a request I received not long ago. Anyway thank you guys for reading, and I´ll update soon. See ya then.**


	2. Day at the park Alpha, Delta and Kass

Chapter 2: Day at the park; Alpha, Delta and Kass

It was already morning, and Penny could be seen walking from one place to another, taking things and loading them into the car, since today they were all going to the park. Meanwhile, upstairs, everyone was already awake, except for Bolt, who was still on his bed, deep and quietly asleep. Then a cat with black fur and green eyes approached him with the intention of waking him up.

"Bolt, wake up. Wake up," she said in a soft tone, but seeing the dog wasn´t moving, she began to move him a bit with her paw. "Bolt, come on. Penny is taking us to the park."

The dog slowly began to open his eyes, still somewhat sleepy. "M…Mittens?" He mumbled before he yawned and finished opening his eyes.

"Good morning, wags."

"Good morning," he replied as he scratched his ear, just before hearing his stomach growl. "I think it´s time for breakfast."

"I agree."

They both went down to the first level without much haste; when they arrived they saw Rhino in front of the television, who only said "Good morning." without even looking away from the screen. When they got to the kitchen, they both started to eat, while chatting a little.

"So, we´re going to the park?" Bolt asked.

"Yeah, don´t you remember? Since last week they told us that today we were going."

"No, I actually didn´t remember that." He answered locking his eyes into hers.

They both stood still, lost in each other´s eyes without a word. Neither moved a muscle, they were just watching into the other´s gaze, emerald green hers, and pure amber his. It seemed like they could spend hours like that, and they probably would have, had it not been because a certain hamster came in to hurry them.

"Hey, hurry up. Everything is ready and… What are you doing?"

"Nothing," They responded once again in unison, separating their gazes and blushing a little.

"Well, hurry up. Everything is ready." He repeated before leaving the kitchen.

Once breakfast was over, everyone got into the car and headed to a nearby park, it took about them ten minutes to arrive and the excitement was noticeable, especially in Bolt, since he loved going to the park.

"Okay, we´re here," Penny said as she took off her seatbelt and got out of the car. Then she opened one of the back doors. "Let´s go."

"Great, I love coming here!" Bolt said excitedly "What do we play first?"

"How about fetching the ball?" Mittens replied as she took Rhino´s ball.

"Yes, I love being the ball! Throw me!" Rhino told Mittens, jumping inside his sphere.

The cat fulfilled his demand and threw him considerably away as the hamster shrieked with excitement and Bolt followed after him. A few seconds later, the shepherd returned with the ball, for Mittens to throw it again. So they played for a while, until it was time to eat. Once the meal was over, Mittens leaned down on the grass and Bolt went for a walk.

Rhino´s P.O.V.

 _Well, now is as good as any moment, let´s see if I can discover something. I´ll start with Bolt._

"Bolt," I shouted as I ran to catch him. "Wait for me!"

"Hi, Rhino," He answered as he paused to wait for me. "You want to come and walk with me?" He said as he started walking again.

"Yes, and I would also like to talk to you."

"Talk about what, buddy?"

I took a breath before asking. "Tell me, is there anything worrying you?"

I think I caught him off guard, by his tone in replying. "Why do you ask that?"

"Because lately I´ve seen you acting weird, especially when Mittens is around you."

He didn´t answer; I turned to see him and he had stopped walking, and was staying still. "Umm… I don´t know what you´re talking about, Rhino."

"Well, I think there´s something you do not want to tell me. It is no longer a question, something´s bothering you; what is it?"

"Have you been watching detective shows in the magic box?"

"Actually, yes; they are very intriguing and it´s great seeing how they draw conclusions from… Wait a second! That is not the issue here."

He hesitated a lot, apparently his intention was to make me talk about what I see in the magic box. "I… I really don´t know what are you talking about. I´m going to keep walking, see you later."

 _Well, that could´ve gone better. I have to work on my research skills._

* * *

Bolt continued walking for a little longer, until he came to some bushes where he lay for half an hour, thinking. He didn´t move from there until he saw a twig fly past him, and he left his spot to chase after it. However, being close to catching it, he ran into another dog who was also attempting to catch the twig.

"I´m sorry, I didn´t see you," the stranger apologized. He was a Labrador retriever with chocolate-colored fur and amber eyes. He seemed close to adulthood and was a little smaller than Bolt.

"It´s okay," he replied politely. "I don´t think we know each other; what´s your name?"

The dog was about to respond when a couple of female voices came in, asking the same question. "Are you guys okay? Are you hurt?"

One of them was Mittens´, who had seen everything from where she was lying; the other one belonged to another Labrador retriever almost identical to the first, except that her coat was yellowish and her eyes brown.

"Nothing happened. We´re fine," Bolt replied. "I´m Bolt and this is Mittens."

A second passed before both of them turned to look at each other, and then the male glanced around with a gesture of annoyance as she took a step forward. "I am Alpha," she said with air of greatness.

"And I´m Delta, we´re brothers." He continued with the introductions. Before anyone said anything, he lifted his leg and counted down. "Three, two, one."

A cat fell from a nearby tree, mostly orange, but with belly, neck, chin and paws colored white. "And I´m Kass," he said after making a little bow. "Pleasure,"

"He´s like our adoptive brother."

"May I ask why those names?" Bolt said, feeling a little curious.

"Well, someone came up with the BRILLIANT idea of naming us as we were born," Delta began to explain. "So…"

His sister interrupted him. "Since I was the first one, they named me 'Alpha'." She said, clearly proud.

"Yeah, I was the fourth one. That´s why 'Delta'," He said with indifference.

"As for me, I think 'Kass' means 'cat' in another language, although I don´t know which one."

After a couple of silence seconds, Delta spoke again. "And now that we all know each other, why don´t we play together?"

"I´ll pass," Kass answered. "I´ll be on a tree, let me know when it´s time to go back"

"I´ll play," Bolt clarified. "Will you, Mittens?"

"Well, why not?" She said, smiling at the white dog.

"Alright, let´s play 'you´ve got it'. One of us has it, and he has to touch someone else to pass it on, and then run away before it is returned. What do you think?" The idea had been Delta´s.

"Sounds good,"

"Sure thing,"

"You like that one a lot, don´t you, little brother? Let´s play then. Since it was your idea, you´ve got it."

"Very well," Delta replied. "I´ll count up to ten to give you time to run. One… two… three… four…" Then Delta realized they were far enough away, so he quickened the count. "Five six seven eight nine ten!" and began to chase after them.

Delta was quite fast, even a little more than Bolt, so he had no trouble catching up to the three of them. He seemed to be heading for Alpha, but when he was about to touch her, she changed direction quickly. Delta, because of his speed, couldn´t do so and passed by. Forgetting about his sister, he saw Bolt a little further, so ran to him. Unlike Alpha, the White American shepherd failed to evade the Labrador retriever and received a touch on the side. "You´ve got it!" He said before running away.

Bolt then began to chase after his friends.

"You´ll see when I catch you up!" He shouted at them amusedly.

Everyone spent the rest of the afternoon playing to the point of fatigue. It seemed that Delta was faster, but Alpha was more agile, and she took every opportunity to remind her brother that she was older. Despite this, Delta seemed more mature than Alpha, though not by much. They finished the day talking, and even Kass came down from his tree, just as Rhino appeared from who knows where to join them. They were all in a circle when someone whistled from far away in the park.

"That´s our call," Delta was the first one to react. "We have to go."

"That´s right, guys," His sister continued. "We´ll see you some other day," she added, and then got up to leave with her brother. Kass merely made a gesture with a paw as farewell, which the three of them responded, leaving again only Bolt, Mittens, and Rhino. The three friends got up and stood still watching the sunset until Penny called to them too.

* * *

 **And that´s it for today. Now, I´ll tell you a couple things before leaving. First, you can count on me finishing this story. I mean, it´s already finished, I just have to translate what I wrote and publish it here, so it´s easier. Second, because of that, I´ll probably update one or two, maybe even three or four times per week, since I won´t have to face things like writer´s block (In any case, it would be "translator´s block" for me) so, like I said, it´ll be easier. Finally, there will be fantasy in this story, and I´m telling you know, beacuse when encountering the first little traces of fantasy, it may be a little confusing, but everything has an explanation, I promise. Anyway, a special thank for CaMinz, the first person to review the story, and thanks everyone for reading. See you soon.  
**


	3. A bad dream and a relevant night

Chapter 3: A bad dream and a relevant night

Once the three returned with Penny, they set put to return home. No need to say they were tired, Rhino even fell asleep on the way, and it would have been the same for Bolt if he had not been talking with Mittens about what happened that day.

As soon as they got home, the dog was the first one to head for Penny´s room, but before entering the house, he smelled a strange thing. It seemed more like two, two aromas belonging to a pair of strangers, and although he wanted to see where did they came from, he decided he would check it out the next day. That being set, they all went upstairs to sleep.

"Good night, everyone," Penny said from her bed. In response she heard a bark, a meow, and a snore. Then, one by one, they all fell asleep.

Bolt´s P.O.V.

I was dreaming that we were back in the park, but only Mittens and me. There was a beautiful sunset, and we were both lying on the grass, next to each other.

"It´s beautiful, isn´t it Bolt?" She said as she laid her head on my chest.

"Yes… it´s beautiful."

"We should come here more often, the kids like it."

I froze. "Kids?"

"Daddy!" I heard in the distance, and then I saw three little fluff balls running towards us, two boys and one girl. They were obviously ours, for they had retractable claws, and a long tail, like Mittens´, but fluffier, like mine´s. Their noses were like a dog´s, but somewhat smaller and their ears where like a cat´s, but a little longer, and they had whiskers, longer than a dog´s but shorter than a cat´s.

One of the boys was completely white, except for a spot on his side, ironically, with a rather lighting-like shape, and his eyes were identical to Mittens´. The other was almost completely black, with some white spots on the back, and the tip of his tail and ears; his eyes were like mine. The girl looked like an intermediary, her coat was black, but with many large white spots all over her body and her eyes were a combination between green and amber.

I didn´t have time to react before they tackled me, sending me back as they laughed and played over me. "Daddy, let´s go play! Come on!"

I got up and started walking. "Okay, kids. Let´s go."

"Don´t take too long, it´s getting dark and we have to go back early."

"Yes, Mommy," The three responded in a rather amusing way.

As I began to walk, I also did to think; those little three meant that Mittens and I were mates, and that we had a lot of time being so. Although I don´t know how kids are born, I know that it´s not from a day to another, and that they usually come after having enough time with a mate.

I was so distracted that I didn´t notice I was no longer at the park, and the kids were gone. Now I was outside the house, and the sky was gray, seeming that at any moment it could start to rain.

That atmosphere bewildered me enough. "Hello? Is anyone here?" There was no immediate response, and then I heard something break inside the house. As soon as I heard it I ran into the house, looking for anyone, but everywhere I looked it was empty. "Mittens! Rhino! Penny! Anyone!" All that was left was Penny´s room. To my surprise… and horror, they were there.

Penny wasn´t, but Mittens and Rhino were; the scene was horrible, both of them were lying on the ground, with wounds everywhere, and unconscious. They barely breathed. "Mittens! Rhino!" I moved them a little to see if they were awake.

Rhino was the only one who spoke, eyes half shut. "S…Sha…dow." Then he closed them.

"Rhino!? Rhino! Wake up, please stand up, either of you!" I lowered my head, letting some tears out. Then I felt someone watching me. "Get out, whoever you are." I just got a laugh for answer; cold, hollow and grim.

"Well, what do we have here?" It said with feigned surprise. "It seems that someone wants to be the hero."

I could feel my anger increasing every second. "I´m not afraid of you. Show yourself."

"If that´s what you want, look for me in the yard." I felt a cold air move through the room, then silence. If I wanted to know what had happened, I´d have to go with that guy, so I went in towards the yard at full speed.

Once there, I couldn´t see anything, so I called. "I´m here, show yourself!" I regretted those words seconds later. From the shadow of a nearby tree, another shadow began to emerge, and began to move towards me. I don´t know how to describe it, it was, literally, a shadow; but there was no one, nothing to produce the shadow. It stopped a few feet from where I was and began to change shape. Before, it seemed only like a bulge, but now it had a more definite shape. I could see its "face", being only two holes with no shadow for the eyes and another one for the mouth and a pair of arms that ended in hands with four fingers. Once it finished "popping up", it did something that terrified me even more: the shadow began to grow. It ceased to be only a shadow, now it seemed to have a body that I could touch; it stepped from being on the floor to _standing on_ the floor. That left me paralyzed.

"Very well, here I am, pup," It said mockingly. "What are you going to do?"

Finding a way to, I controlled the growing fear in me. "I want to know who you are and why you attacked my friends."

"I´ll answer your question with another one. What would you be willing to do, so that nothing happens to them?" It asked me, growing even more in some way.

"Why that question?"

"What I just showed you, is nothing more than their future, and there is no way to avoid it. But, if you´re willing to do something, I´ll make sure nothing happens to them." Its smile didn't give me any confidence.

Although I suspected it would be nothing pleasant, I asked. "And what would I have to do?"

"Leave." It said, just before it stopped growing. It seemed three times my size now.

"What?"

"If you want me to keep them safe," It said, showing me in its hands both Mittens and Rhino, in perfect condition, but asleep. "You have to leave your home. Go away, where no one knows you and stay there."

I knew it wouldn´t be pleasant at all, but what if it was right? Was it true, this was their future? Could I really save them… by leaving them?

"Well?"

"I… I don´t know."

"Come on, they´ll be fine with me." It started to smile again. "I´ll take good care of them."

Its smile removed all doubt. "… No."

"What did you just say?"

"I said no. I will not abandon them. I will stay to take care of them, and I´ll protect them from everything, including you." My fear had evolved into determination.

"Well, as you wish," Then it began to grow again, as Mittens and Rhino disappeared from its hands. "But there is nothing you can do, now or ever, to stop it, for your fear, your anger, your doubt feed me; and I will not stop until you realize that you have made the MOST STUPID DECISION OF YOUR LIFE!

"NO!"

"Ah!" I woke with a shuddering breath. The first thing I saw was a pair of green eyes in front of me. "Mittens, everything okay?"

"Well, I…"

"Come on, you know you can tell me anything." I said, more calmly. Just seeing her had soothed me a lot.

She took a breath before answering me. "It´s cold, and I… well, I wanted to know if I could… sleep with you?"

I smiled a little. "Of course you can," I moved aside so she could lie in my bed.

"Thanks Bolt" I wrapped my arms around her. "Bolt, uh, what are you doing?"

"Oh, sorry; I thought that could help get you warm."

I started to move my arms away, but she stopped me. "It´s okay, it doesn´t bother me. Good night, Bolt."

"Good night, Mittens."

That was the last thing I said, but even after a while I could not get back to sleep. That dream kept me awake, both parts. First I had dreamed that Mittens and I were mates, and even more, that we had kids. Would it really be possible? Is that what I want? I liked the sound of that, but I had no idea what to do to make it a reality.  
On the other side, there was that shadow, that stupid shadow. For being a dream, its threat seemed to me quite real. As if it could really hurt them, as if it _was going to_ hurt them. I chose to stay, but was it a wise decision? Maybe not, but there was nothing he could do to fix it anymore, assuming it could hurt Mittens and Rhino. I could only protect them, and I would, I would defend them to my last breath.

I was still in my thoughts when I heard a very slight sound. I paid more attention and realized that Mittens was purring; her fur next to mine felt very good and the dream soon invaded me again. Being next to her made me forget all the problems and just enjoy the moment. Is this love? I'm almost sure it is, and if not, whatever it is, it feels good; very good. I ended up resting my head and only saw her once more before closing my eyes and falling asleep.

* * *

Meanwhile in a forest about an hour (walking) from the house, there was a conversation between two creatures.  
"I told you not to leave them unguarded!" Again that voice; feminine and sweet, but authoritarian and mature.  
"But it was not my fault. I... okay, it was my fault. I'm sorry." Even though its voice was deep, regret could be heard in its intonation.  
"There is nothing we can do now. I just hope he didn´t give in to the blackmail," the first one said as it lay on the floor. "I'll be out again tomorrow, and I want you to watch those three, for real this time."

"Of course, I won´t make the same mistake twice." Then the second lay down, too. "I'll make it up, it will not happen again. And that´s a promise."

* * *

 **And there´s chapter three. How´s it going so far? I know there are people reading this, and I would really appreciate if you could leave me a review with your opinion or anything. Anyway, next chapter will answer one or two things, and probably leave three or four more questions, so yeah. Nos vemos.  
**


	4. A day lost and two new acquaintances

Chapter 4: A day lost and two new acquaintances

It was still early morning in California, in a house where everyone was asleep, all but one White American shepherd, who hadn't been able to sleep well since the dream he'd had. At this moment he was lying next to a black cat, which was deeply asleep with a smile on her face. The dog began to move away from her, being careful not to wake her up. Once he had risen, he went downstairs.

"I need to think." He said to himself. "I really need to clear my mind." Then he turned to look at a clock on a table. "It's only five o'clock, I don't remember getting up so early before, but I really need this."

Bolt chose to go out into the garden and lie under the tree where the shadow had come from in his dream. Time went by as in his mind there was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions; mostly concern for his friends. Then he remembered that there were those two scents he had perceived the night before. He decided that he would go out to investigate who they belonged to, hoping to distract himself a little. He was rising to his paws when a voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Awake so early?" It was Kass, who was sitting on a branch of the tree under which Bolt was.

"Hi, Kass," He responded dully. "I was thinking"

"May I know about what?"

"A bit of everything; I had a strange dream and I could not go back to sleep."

"I see. I hope you can solve whatever it is. You can count on my help if you need it." The orange cat said as he jumped from the tree and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

He stopped for a moment and turned to see the dog. "Forward. Always forward, Bolt." Then he went on.

Bolt got disconcerted by the cat's response, but he had enough to think about. Then he remembered that he was going to track those scents to know who had been in the garden while they were gone. Without letting another second pass, he began to follow the trail, which was heading toward the city.

Bolt's P.O.V.

It had been about an hour and an a half following that strange scent and I was begging to despair. Several times I was close to turning around and going back, but for some reason always kept moving. My stomach began to roar. _Great, I forgot having breakfast before leaving. Now I have to look for food too. Damn, I didn't tell anyone I was going to be outside. Well, if I come back soon maybe they won't worry... so much._

I began to smell food on the outskirts of the city and followed the smell to an alley. Mittens had already warned me that I should not go into alleys like that, but hunger was becoming a nuisance, so I went over to start eating; bad decision.

"Hey you! What are you doing in my alley?" He was a fairly large Pitbull, with scars all over his face and a face of few friends. "I asked you a question."

"I was... hungry. I'm sorry I bothered. I'd better go." I really didn't want to have to fight, starting because I did not know how.

The Pitbull closed the way out of the alley. "I don't think so." Then, without giving me time to do anything, he charged me, sending me to the end of the alley. I tried to get up, but before I could, he hit me again. Then he walked to where he was and gave a threatening glance as he showed me his fangs. Imagining what he was going to do, I lifted my right paw up enough to cover my neck, just before I got a bite in it.

Apparently my movement made him angrier, because he hit me a few times in the stomach and then bit my back. I was helpless, I didn´t have the strength to get up, not even to scream, and I began to feel dizzy as he continued to bite and hit me. Before falling unconscious, I heard someone intervene. "Hey you, leave him alone!"

"Look, dude, you better not..." I heard a cry of pain. But I didn´t see anything, everything was blurry. Without knowing what would be of me, I fell unconscious.

Mittens' P.O.V.

I had slept very well with Bolt; it had felt incredible, so much so that I would probably ask for it again. At that moment I realized that he wasn´t there, neither on the bed nor in the room. _Maybe he went down for breakfast._ I went downstairs hoping to see him in the living room or in the kitchen, but nothing, his dish of food was still full. Already worried, I went out into the garden, but he was not there either. I didn't know what else to do; it's not like him to leave like this, without letting us know. I heard my stomach growl, so I went in for breakfast; seeing that his dish was full didn't help calm me. _Why would he leave without even having breakfast?_

After I finished eating, I was heading back to the garden, but I ran into Rhino, who had just come down. "Good morning, cat." She said in a yawn.

"Good morning, rodent." With one last hope, I clung to the possibility that Bolt had told Rhino he was going to leave. "Do you know where Bolt is?"

"He´s not here?"

 _Hope eliminated._ "No, when I woke up he was gone; he didn't even eat before leaving." My voice sounded quite desperate.

"He wouldn't do something like that."

"That's why I'm worried, Rhino."

We both spent a long time trying to find an explanation for his disappearance. Every second I worried more. What if something had happened to him? What if he was in danger? As we were getting nowhere, I decided to go out to the tree that was in front of the house. I lay back under its shadow and I could smell Bolt's scent. Although my nose is not as well developed as a dog's, that scent was unmistakable to me.

"Why that face?" I turned my head and recognized the owner of that voice.

"Hi Kass,"

"Hi Mittens, you look down. What's wrong?"

I sighed. "I haven't seen Bolt in all day. He disappeared from before I woke up and I'm worried about him."

"Ironically, he was sitting right there just a few hours ago." He told me, pointing where I was lying.

"What?" I asked, startled. "You saw him?"

"I talked to him," He said quietly. "He told me he had a bad dream and was thinking. Nothing else."

"...Thank you." Then he began to walk away. "Where are you going?"

He let out a small laugh. "He asked me the same question when I saw him, you know?"

"And what did you answer?"

He laughed again, gently this time. "Forward. Always forward, Mittens." And he went on.

* * *

Thus passed the morning; when Penny got up and didn't see Bolt, she went out looking for him with her mother's help. However, they couldn't spend much time looking for, as they had to leave. Penny's mother managed to convince her that Bolt would return, just like the first time. That calmed her, and Rhino, who assured that Bolt was able to take care of himself; but Mittens was still worried for her canine friend, so much that she did not move from the tree to wait for him.

The hours passed and he hadn't come back, but the cat was still there, waiting. She had not gotten up or gone to eat, even if her stomach asked. In the end, Rhino brought her some food to the tree.

"Thank you, Rhino." She said before she began to eat.

"You're welcome. You should come in. It looks like it's going to rain." The hamster was a little worried about his friend, even if he didn't want to admit it.

"No thanks. I'll wait here," She said with determination.

"May I accompany you?" _Perhaps it will be easier to deal with her than with Bolt._

"Sure."

Then Rhino sat inside his ball next to Mittens, while he devised a way of not messing up like the day before. She, for her part, only expected her best friend to be alright.

Bolt's P.O.V.

The first thing I noticed when I regained consciousness was those two scents I had followed in the morning. I was about to move but I heard a couple of voices, so I decided to stay still and see what I could find out.

The first voice was a female, it sounded very sweet and soft, but the tone it used nullified that. "This is, by far, the worst decision you've ever made, Mega! What part of 'stay in the sidelines' was not clear to you?!"

Then that voice, the one that interrupted the Pitbull that was attacking me. "He was going to kill him! Did you expect me to 'stay in the sidelines' at the cost of his life?"

"No, but this was too much, not only you interrupted me to return to the camp, but you forced me to heal all of his wounds!

"What's wrong with that? What did you expect me to do, Byte?"

"You should have saved him, and left him near his house for his friends to find him."

"He could have died. He was bleeding a lot and you know how to heal wounds better than anyone else."

Then I couldn't resist and opened my eyes to see them. They were wolves; He a little taller than she. His coat was dark gray, slightly blue in tone. She had light gray fur with a slightly yellow hue. Both had brown eyes.

"Well, I've cured him. Take him to his house; surely they're already worried about him."

"Fine, I'll take him to the edge of the forest and wait for him to wake up. Then I'll make up a story and send him home."

"I hope it's good or he won't believe you."

Finally I decided to intervene. "Yes, I expect it too." I had just gotten up, and they seemed to be surprised. "Actually, maybe you can start telling me that now."

"Um... well, once upon a time..." He began.

"Better just tell him the truth," she interrupted. "Just the part he needs to hear."

He sighed. "She's Byte, and I'm Mega. We are brothers."

"Well, I'm Bolt."

"We know," Byte answered.

"Can you tell me how did I get here?"

Mega took the microphone. "Of course; when you were about to fall unconscious, I reached the alley and got rid of the Pitbull. Then I put you on my back and brought you here, so I asked Byte to heal your wounds. Fortunately, most were mild, though they were many. Now it's just the two bites he gave you on the leg and on the back, other than that you're fine."

"May I know why I should not know you?"

"Well, those were..."

"Orders," Byte interjected. "If we were watching you closely and did not let you see us, it was because they gave us orders."

"Then I guess you'll still be around."

"For some time, yes; Mega, you better show him the way back. It will take you a while to get there."

"Of course. Come on, follow me. It will take you a little to run again because Byte anesthetized you to heal you." He said as I started to walk.

"Don't do anything stupid, Mega."

"I can't promise that."

And so we started walking home, I suppose. I had never entered that forest and I didn't imagine that I would do it today when I went to look for those scents. The most I thought would happen was that I would find a couple of snoopers or something similar.

"So, Mega," I started with some insecurity. "Whose orders are you following? Why do you?" I came to think that maybe those two might try to hurt Mittens or Rhino for following orders.

"Our master; he looked after us from puppies, to the three of us, and still does." I think he noticed my worried face. "Don't worry; we would not hurt you or your friends." That calmed me enough. "Well, now it's my turn to ask."

"What could you ask?"

"Ah, you'll see." Then he smiled. "What are you going to do about... Mittens?"

"What?!" "He really took me off guard. "How do you know that?"

I heard a slight laugh on his part. "From the first day we were observing, I noticed, and Byte did, too. The face that you put when you are watching her is classic of a lover." For a moment he stopped walking. "Then what are you going to do?"

"Well, for starters, I'm not even sure it's love, I might ..."

"How do you feel when you're with her?"

"Good. Regardless of what is happening around, just seeing her makes me feel good."

"What would you do if she were sad?"

"Anything. I would do anything to see her smile."

"I think, after an 'arduous' investigation, I can deduce that it is love." He smiled at me again. "So consider yourself capable of answering my question."

"Well, I don't know. How should I tell her what I feel?"

"I have no idea." He paused again. "If we continue with that question, we won't get anywhere, so I'll leave it to you for homework." He started walking again.

"What's homework?"

"Right, you spend a lot of time on the show." Apparently he knew my story. "Homework is a job that is left for humans to do at home when it cannot be resolved in their school or office for some reason. Children are also left with homework to review what they learned that day in their classes. Basically, it's work for you to do later in your home."

"Thanks for the explanation." He smiled again, I was already enjoying his company, and I met him about half an hour ago. "Then I suppose it's my turn to ask."

"Yes, that's right."

"Okay. You mentioned that your master raised you three. Who is the third?"

"His name is Helang, and he is a hawk. Let's say he's a lot more discreet than us, but I do not know where he can be now. Sometimes he goes away for months and one day just comes back." Mega stared at the horizon for a moment. "Well, my turn. What color am I thinking?"

"And that's why?"

"Just answer me." He said, amused by my expression.

"Eh ... green."

"Almost, yellow." I was going to ask again, but he overtook me. "I could think of nothing else to ask. Your turn."

I thought about it for a moment. "How much do you know about us?"

"Pretty much actually; although, as I told you, our intentions are not to harm you, pretty much otherwise," He gave a serious expression for a moment. "Well, I pass. Your turn again."

"Could you help me with a strange dream I had?"

"I don't see why not." Then I told him everything I dreamed the night before, the two parts; although I hoped rather that he would help me with the second. "Well, I can tell you that the first part is one of the deepest desires of your heart. Now there is not a single bit of doubt, it is love. And a pure love, of which they are very rare at present." Then his smile, to which I had already become accustomed, vanished, showing a serious expression. "As for the second, I have to explain it further. That shadow you saw was teasing you; and it looks like it worked. Just as it told you, it feeds on your negative emotions: your anger, your fear, your doubt." Now his expression was an angry one. "When it told you to leave, what it was trying to do was cause you uncertainty, disconcert you, and disperse your mind so that you could not concentrate on anything."

I was afraid to ask but my curiosity won. "Was it real?"

"No." _Ugh, close one_. "It IS real." _Damn it, Mega!_

"What do I do if it comes back?" Mega stopped and told me to do the same.

"If it comes back, and it will, you must do something that will be quite difficult in its presence. You must calm down. Do not be afraid, do not get angry with it, and do not doubt yourself. Stay calm, and it will have nowhere to draw power from. If you stay like that for long enough, it'll leave you alone." Then his characteristic smile returned. "Have courage, have faith, have joy, have love and it will never return."

"Thanks Mega." I told him, still a little confused by the explanation.

"You're welcome." He lifted his paw and indicated a direction. Then I realized that we had reached the end of the forest, and the houses were already in the distance. "If you go that way, you'll be home in forty minutes. Don't enter alleyways and don't venture into the city."

"Then we'll see each other around." I lifted one paw and he shook it. "Thanks again."

"You're welcome, again. Now go on, I'm sure your kitten is worried." And he let out another small laugh as I blushed a lot. "If you need us, go to the bushes where we hide or inside the barn and call us. You don't have to shout, just say our names and we'll be there soon."

"Okay." I started to walk in the direction Mega had pointed out. Before I left, he spoke once more. "Don't tell anyone about us, Bolt. Not even Mittens."

That confused me a lot. "Why...?"

"In due season, my friend. They'll know when the time is right."

"O-Okay." And I went on my way. It would take me a long time to get home, but at least I could think of how to tell them what happened… skipping Mega and Byte.

Mittens' P.O.V.

"C'mon, Mittens, surely Bolt is… fine." That was another attempt by the rodent to make me feel better, and persuade me to enter the house. Now I was really worried; Bolt hadn't shown up all day and it was already quite late. As hard as I tried to help it, my head kept imagining the worst cases and that was making me nervous. I had to see him; I had to know he was fine.

"Look, we can go inside and from there you can continue waiting for him"

"No, Rhino, I told you," I replied, feeling more desperate by the second. "I'll wait here until he comes back."

"Okay, but what if he doesn't come back today?"

"Then I'll sleep outside."

"Really?"

My patience was coming to an end. "Yes, Rhino, if he doesn't come back today I'll sleep outside! And if he has not returned by tomorrow then I'll wait here again, whether it's a day or a month, I will not move from here until I see Bolt again!" I sighed; I really needed to get that out. Rhino just kept quiet afterwards.

"Well, that won't take much more then" I heard from behind my back. _That voice, it could only be…_

"Bolt!" The little hamster ran to where he was to hug him. "Where did you go?" He asked amused. Then he put on a serious face that was pretty badly feigned. "If I find you faced the green eyed man without me…"

"Easy, Rhino, I just… I was late." Then he released the rodent to walk towards me, while Rhino returned to the house. "Well, I think you're free to move again."

I couldn't resist it anymore and I jumped on him to hug him. "You worried me, don't you ever do that again." I rested my head on his chest, and I felt something that left me paralyzed. Bolt had brought with him two other scents, and one was of a female, but I had never smelled anything like it. Immediately I separated from him. "Where were you all day?" Then I noticed that he was hurt. "And what did you do?"

* * *

 **And yes, that makes for the story´s first cliffhanger. Special thanks to Basbon, who was the first one to follow and favorite this story. Thanks for the support; also thanks to everyone that's reading. Now, next chapter will be in two or three days, I hope. Nos vemos luego.  
**


	5. Explanations, confusion and a shadow

Chapter 5: Explanations, confusion and a shadow

"Well… I…" Bolt began to hesitate as he organized his ideas.

"Well?" Mittens insisted.

"It's a long story."

"I've got time, Bolt."

The white dog sighed. "Okay. Today in the morning I went out to the garden, to think a little…"

Meanwhile, inside the house, a hamster was trying to organize his own thoughts, for he had tried, unsuccessfully, to get some information from Mittens during the afternoon; yet the cat had hardly paid attention to his questions, apparently, for being too focused on waiting for Bolt.

Rhino's P.O.V.

 _Well, this is being far more complicated than I imagined. So far the only… clues? That I have are the fact that Bolt got nervous when I mentioned Mittens, and that she ignored me while we waited for Bolt. So…_ "Ah, this is getting interesting."

I decided to go out again to convince those two to go inside. I caught sight of Bolt sitting in front of Mittens, he seemed to be explaining where he had been. To me, it was enough to know that he was alright and that he hadn't faced any villains without me. Even so, I approached to hear a part of his story.

"Then, before I fell unconscious, I heard someone stopping the Pitbull, but I couldn't see who it was. After that, I fainted" He stopped and took as deep breath before continuing. "I awoke about an hour ago, at the edge of the forest, with my wounds already treated. After finding where I was, I began walking home. I'm sorry Mittens, I won't do it again."

 _That's a clue, something in the tone he just used is… intriguing._

The cat stared at him; I couldn't say what the expression on her face was. "Is that all true, Bolt?" Apparently they had not noticed I was there.

"Everything," He assured her.

Then I decided to intervene. "Maybe you want to finish your conversation inside, it's getting cold."

"Rhino, how long have you been there?" Bolt asked me.

"From the part where you were about to faint,"

"Well, you're right. It's getting cold already. Come on." He told both of us as he started to walk.

As he advanced I could see the bite on his right leg, and then I saw another one on his back. "The Pitbull did that?"

"For what he said, yes," Mittens told me. "But there is something that doesn't fit." She lowered her gaze. "I think… that he's hiding something from us."

"What makes you think that?"

"When I hugged him, I could smell two scents besides his'. One of a male and the other… was of a female." She said in a broken voice. "But he didn't mention anyone apart from the Pitbull."

"And you think he's lying to us? He said that he woke up with the wounds already treated. Maybe whoever saved him took him to be healed. And he could've been healed by a female." In spite of my deduction, she didn't see calmer. "Look, if it's so important to you, why don't you go ask him?" And I started walking in.

"…You're right, Rhino. I'll ask." She said, catching up with me. "But I'd like you to let us talk…"

"Alone?" _I think I'm approaching, slowly, to an answer._

"Yes, please."

"Of course, it's late and I'm already tired." Actually I wasn't, but I also wanted some time alone to think things over.

"Thank you, Rhino."

We both entered the house; before going upstairs I saw Bolt lying on the couch, his face saying that something was disturbing him, but I had already said that I would leave them alone, so I headed to the stairs without saying anything.

 _I hope things don't get too complicated._

Bolt's P.O.V.

When I entered the house and realized that I was alone, I took the opportunity to think a little. It made me feel terrible to have something to hide from my friends, but I knew that for some reason it was important not to say anything.

 _But then again, I only skipped the part of the story where Mega and Byte were involved._ Then I heard Rhino and Mittens come in, so I tried to push those thoughts away.

Rhino went upstairs immediately, but Mittens stayed and walked towards me. "Bolt, I want to ask you a question." _Oh, no. Am I so bad to lie?  
_

I tried to dissimulate as best I could. "What is it, Mittens?"

"I… I think there's something you didn't tell me about what you were doing today."

"I don't know… what you're talking about." _Yep, I don't know how to lie._

"Bolt, I know you very well. There's something you don't want to tell me." Then she looked down a little. "Or you don't trust me?"

"No! Of course not. It's nothing like that." Now it's getting complicated. A wrong move and… "You know I trust you more than anyone." She turned to meet my eyes. "You're right. There's something I didn't told you."

"But?" Apparently, she would not let me out without an answer.

 _I can't tell you, I can't tell you, I can't tell you, I can't tell you. Don't tell her, don't tell her, don't tell her._ "I… I can't tell you."

"Why?" Her voice, her gaze made me feel terrible, she seemed to be holding back tears.

"It's complicated. I can tell you that I didn't wake up at the edge of the forest. I woke up inside it; there these two were taking care of me."

"Which two?" She looked calmer now, but I could still feel something in her voice, though I didn't know what it was.

"Two brothers, he saved me from the Pitbull and she healed my wounds. When I woke up, he showed me the way back." I said resignedly. I really didn't want to see her sad, but Mega had sounded serious when he asked me not to tell them anything.

For a while, she said nothing, and I didn't either. She looked thoughtful; meanwhile, I decided that I would not say more, I had said enough already.

"And what were they like?" She asked finally.

"I… I can't tell you; I really can't, Mittens. I'm sorry." I couldn't take it anymore and I went up towards Penny's room. I felt very bad; not only had I not told Mittens the truth, but I also broke the promise I made to Mega, and both at the same time!

I lay back on my bed, and kept thinking. _Tomorrow I'll have to talk to Mega to sort out some things._

Mittens' P.O.V.

 _Why do I feel this way? Why did it hurt so much that Bolt didn't tell me what had happened? Why did I felt baffled when he referred to 'those two', especially for 'her'? Maybe I'm jumping into conclusions, and I hope it is so. But, there was something in his voice, I don't know if I did well pushing him like that. I mean, he told me that he trusted me more than anyone. Why could I not trust him?_

 _I think I'm worried about losing him; I worry that he could get a mate and leave me. I have to tell him what I feel. Yes, that's what I should do; but how? How do I tell him? I´ll have to think about it._

Unable to avoid it, I yawned. _It's quite late, I should go to sleep._ I walked towards Penny's room as I kept thinking about how I could tell Bolt my feelings for him. _We must be alone, and it must be a nice place._ In spite of everything, I was worried about what he might say to me. I tried not to be pessimistic but… _What if he said no? That was a possibility, and I didn't want to lose his friendship… And if he said yes, what if he accepted me? If he did, oh, if he did…_

Without realizing it, I was already in Penny´s room. Just like the night before, it was cold. I approached Bolt with the intention of asking if I could sleep with him again, but I remembered what we had talked. That didn't end well. I hadn't taken that in mind, but…

"Mittens," Apparently he was still awake. "is something wrong?"

"I… er… it's cold again, and I wanted to know if… I could…"

"Yes," He stepped aside to give me space on his bed.

I lay down next to him, and like the night before, he placed his arms around me. I rested my head on his chest. I wanted to fix things. "Bolt?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry, please, forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive, Mittens." Without giving me a chance to say anything, he kissed my forehead. "Goodnight."

Darkness helped me hide my blush, and I could see that he too had blushed a little. "Goodnight, Bolt."

* * *

Meanwhile in a camp an hour from Penny's house, Mega and Byte where chatting.

"Are you sure?" Her voice was worried about something, and she was pacing from side to side without resting.

"I already told you, yes. I asked him not to tell his friends about us. Calm down a little."

"I can't, you know it's dangerous. If they find out we've made contact, they'll rush their plans."

"And how would they find out?" Despite addressing a topic that seemed serious, Mega's voice tone was that of a child.

"You said Bolt asked you about a shadow in his dream. I think we both know where it was going, with all the drama it made him pass through." She stopped walking and sat down. "I really hope it doesn't show up again."

"You and I know it'll be back. That´s why I taught him how to get rid of it," Mega pointed with pride.

"Yes, but what if it attacks Mittens, or Rhino?" You didn't teach them anything, and not even Bolt can tell them.

Mega removed his childish smile. "We can only hope it doesn't."

A third voice came in. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? You seem to be in a predicament, little ones."

Mega and Byte stood alert, covering each other's back, ready for an attack on any direction. However, without a warning, a shadow knocked down Byte and disappeared into the forest at an incredible speed.

"Show yourself!" Mega shouted at the trees.

"You should know that won't be able to provoke me." Then it laughed and rammed Mega, without giving him any chance to stop it. "That's it? I thought you were stronger."

Byte finished standing up. "Stop playing, Helang. It's not funny."

A peregrine falcon, slightly larger than the average, perched on a low branch to talk with the wolves. "What was that? I remember your condition was better."

"You've always been faster and stronger than us, and you know it." Mega reproached.

"Okay, okay. I perceive frustration and concern. What happened?"

"Well, we have a situation," Byte began. "But Mega is better in storytelling."

"Whatever," He replied to his sister. "So, this morning…"

While Mega and Byte were telling Helang about the recent events, at Penny's house a couple of lovers were sleeping together, however, with very different dreams.

Bolt's P.O.V.

I was dreaming again; just like the first time, standing outside the house under a gray sky. I didn't waste time.

"Come on, get out! Don't hide!" I knew it was there. And I didn't want to see my friends again like that, just remembering the scene…

"What do you want, puppy?" Its voice sounded colder than the last time. "Why are you calling me?" It asked with a load of sarcasm and cynicism incalculable.

I started to get angry. "I want you to get out of here. And don't come back." I figured it wouldn't listen, but this time, I knew what to do.

As I imagined, it began to laugh grimly. "And who do you think you are, to give me such command!?" It showed itself, just like the last time, first in the ground, and then emerging from it.

I looked at it straight in the eyes and then closed mine. "What are you doing? Do you want to save your friends? Does the dog want to be back into action?" I tried to ignore every comment and began to calm down. I breathed deeply and didn't move.

I think it realized what was I doing, for it began to talk desperately. "If you don't stop, I'll make your friends suffer. If you don't let me stay in your mind, I'll get to theirs."

"Then I'll teach them to defend themselves against you." I answered without raising my voice or opening my eyes. "It's a lot easier than you might think." I opened my eyes and noticed it was shrinking.

"Don't do it. I can give you strength, make you more capable. I can help you achieve your goals; I can help you conquer Mittens."

As much as I tried I couldn't ignore that comment. "What? And how would you ever help me?"

The shadow disappeared and began to laugh like crazy. "You did it again!" Then everything turned gray.

 _Damn it. Okay, I'll calm down again and it will leave. I just have to-_ "Mittens?" Just as everything had disappeared, now she was there, sitting with her back towards me. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." She said, without turning, in a sharp tone I'd never heard from her.

"What's wrong?"

She sighed. "Bolt, I want to talk to you." I was going to tell her something, but she didn't give me a chance. "What you asked me for, is not right. It's not natural. I'm sorry, but we cannot be a couple. It's not correct."

Her words hurt me a lot; I no longer cared where we were or what was happening. "Why do you say that? If I… If I love you." For being a dream, it had been difficult enough to say.

"No, Bolt. It's not right." Every second that passed, every one of her words, was breaking my heart a little. "I don't want to see you again." That was more than I could bear, and I began to cry.

For a second, I considered the possibility of leaving. But something was not right there. "Mittens let me see you."

"No, Bolt, you better leave."

Definitely something was wrong. I walked over to where she was and stood in front of her. Her eyes were not emerald green; they were red. "You're not Mittens." Then 'she' disappeared.

"What if it was not really Mittens? That doesn't change the fact that she's going to break your heart. And then, she'll leave you." Again, it began to laugh.

 _Ignore it, Bolt. Concentrate, calm down._ I closed my eyes again and breathed deeply. This time, I also 'closed' my ears, stopped paying attention to my surroundings. I managed to perceive its attempts to get me out of my peace, but nothing was going to stop me now. Being totally relaxed, I opened my eyes and ears and one word was enough. "Leave."

And without further ado, I could see it fading in the air, leaving me alone. After a while, I woke up. Then I could see Mittens moving slightly, an expression of fear or sadness in her face. The memory hit me like a stone. _"If you don't stop, I´ll make your friends suffer."_ _Oh, no._

After a little thought, I came up with an idea. I hugged Mittens again and began to whisper. "Mittens it's okay; none of that is real. Don't be afraid. I'll take care of you." Although I felt strange talking to her while she slept, I could see that her expression had changed to a calm one. Already calmer myself, I fell asleep again.

Mittens' P.O.V.

I was dreaming that I was with Bolt, we were mates, and we were together, watching the sunset. "It's beautiful, don't you think, Bolt?"

"Not as beautiful as you are."

I blushed at his comment. "Oh, you're making me blush."

I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes. I don't know how much time passed, but when I opened them I was no longer with Bolt, nor in the lake. I got scared a little. "Bolt?"

I heard a rather grim laugh. "Hello, kitty; did you lose your beloved?"

"Who are you? What did you do to Bolt?" I didn't even know what it was, but its voice was not comforting.

"Oh, Bolt's fine," It replied, before laughing again. "But I could not say the same about you."

Suddenly, in the distance, I saw Bolt by the lake where we had been. I started to run towards him, but as I was about to reach him, something happened that left me cold. Next to Bolt was another dog, to my disgrace, very pretty, although I didn't recognized her breed. He was holding her, and they were whispering things to one another. "Bolt?" I asked, feeling tears threatening to come out.

"Oh, hi, Mittens," He answered in his usual cheerful tone. "I think I should introduce you to Flor, my mate." He pointed to the dog sitting next to him. "I hope you can get along."

I felt my heart break into a thousand pieces. "Bolt, I… I can't. Bolt, I love you."

"Mittens, that's not possible," He told me calmly. "I'm sorry, but you're a cat, and I'm a dog. What kind of abnormal relationship would that be?"

Each of his words hurt more than the previous one. I looked down, tears coming out. When I raised my head again, he was in the distance lying next to her, hugging her. I lay on the floor, crying. I had given him my heart, and he had broken it into a thousand pieces. _"Mittens, it's okay"_ That was Bolt's voice, but he was still beside her. _"None of that is real."_ Then I must be dreaming. _"Don't be afraid. I'll take care of you."_

"Thanks Bolt." I whispered, soothed by his voice.

Quickly, Bolt's image embracing her disappeared. A moment later, the voice came back. "Damn it, that stupid dog! He won't let me work in peace!" Then I felt a cold draft of air, and then silence.

I woke up a second later, still being in between Bolt's paws. As warm as it was, I wanted to think a bit, so I pulled away from him carefully, and headed downstairs. Being there, I sat in the kitchen's window.

"A little late to be awake, don't you think?" Said a rather serious but gentle voice. I turned to find a peregrine falcon.

"I… who are you?"

"Oh, my apologies; you may call me Helang."

"Mittens,"

"So, Mittens, why are you awake so late?"

"I had this unpleasant dream, and I wanted to think a little."

He stared at me for a little. "Maybe I can help you."

His voice inspired me confidence, so I just told him everything from my dream, the cute part and the nightmare. "Well, I think it's pretty obvious that you're in love with Bolt. As for the nightmare, I will tell you that, indeed, the voice that soothed you was from Bolt, the real one. Perhaps you were moving asleep and he noticed. The other one was a shadow. These creatures get into someone's mind and try to infuse fear, anger and doubt. However, they are not very strong." He smiled at me. "It's not that easy, but if you encounter one, you just have to calm down. If you don't give it fear, anger or doubt for it to feed on, it'll have to leave you alone."

I nodded. "But I'm still worried. What if I tell Bolt what I feel and he rejects me?"

"Let me tell you something that my master said." He took a deep breath and pulled out his chest, trying to look imposing, I suppose. "'To try to stop loving is the same as to try to stop breathing.' You won't die for it, but you can hurt yourself." Then he smiled at me again. "Consider it." And he flew away.

"Thanks Helang." He had really helped me. It was really worth trying.

Although he was far away, I could hear his response clearly. "You're welcome, Mittens."

Calmer, I got back to Penny's room and curled up next to Bolt. Even though he was already asleep, as soon as I did, he embraced me again. Being in between his arms calmed me even more and it was not long before I was asleep myself.

* * *

 **And here goes chapter number 5. Once again, thanks to Basbon for his support, and thanks to everyone for reading. Reviews, as always, are appreciated. Anyway, if nothing unexpected happens, next chapter in a couple of days. Nos vemos luego.**


	6. Important issues to consider

Chapter 6: Important issues to consider

While Mittens and Bolt lay asleep side by side with no apparent possibility of anything upsetting them that night, a peregrine falcon was flying at high speed toward a small camp in the woods. When he arrived, he noticed a pair of wolves training. "What, don't you guys sleep?" He asked them.

"You know we don't; and you don't either, so shut up." Mega replied. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke again. "What happened?"

"As you suspected, the shadow tried with Mittens, but Bolt somehow managed to help her. She came down to think, and I gave her a little extra help."

"What about Rhino?" Byte asked this time.

"He seemed calmly asleep. Perhaps it had no more energy to invade another mind, at least for tonight." The hawk closed his eyes. "Contrary to what Mega thinks, I still sleep from time to time, just as right now. Goodnight."

Byte called him once more before letting him sleep. "Helang?"

"Yes?"

"Is Bolt _it_?"

The hawk didn't open his eyes, but took a depth breath before answering. "We'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, keep looking after them."

Both wolves went silent. Mega broke said silence after a while. "Do you think they know that possibility?"

"I don't know. I really hope not, or things will get complicated for him." The yellowish wolf spent a few seconds thinking, and then looked up at her brother. "Train him."

Mega didn't seem to believe what he just had heard. "What? Do you want me to train him?"

"Yes. Teach him how to fight, to defend himself. Make sure the other two don't find out you're interacting with him until he's ready."

"I don't mean to question your word, but couldn't that create mistrust between the lovebirds?"

"There's no choice. If they find out of more than they're meant to, they'll put themselves in danger." She reasoned as she ended lying on the grass.

The other one sighed. "Alright; just give him some time to organize his thoughts. Tomorrow morning I'll go check on him." And he lied down too, trying to get some sleep.

* * *

The rest of the night passed without further emotion for Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, Mega, Byte and Helang. However, in the opposite direction to the camp where the las three were staying, near the center of city in an abandoned building, a shadow was returning from 'work'.

"Give me your report," a stranger demanded. "Did he survive? Did he fall again?"

"My apologies, sir, but the puppy is still alive. I tried to blackmail him again, but he had already learned to repel me." The shadow, which had once threatened Bolt and Mittens, now seemed nervous.

"That's not possible. It's not logical, that he's still alive or that he learned to defend himself from a day to another. Unless…" The stranger turned and looked the night, starry, sky from a broken window. "He'd had some help."

"Forgive me for asking, but, who could have helped him? His few friends are no more virtuous than him; I doubt that they know at all what's really happening."

The stranger pulled out a radio from somewhere. "Ben, I want the report on the pursuit of the three most dangerous targets." He spoke to it.

The answer from the other side was immediate. "Yes, sir, I'll bring it up."

Half a minute later, another character entered the room. "Here's the file. 'Subjects pursued: AG-001, AG-002 and AG-003, also known as Helang, Mega and Byte. They were las seen in Vancouver, Canada, and attacked and destroyed our operation bases in the area, causing considerable causalities. The elite shadow squadron 4, subdivision 2B, pursued the subjects over to a cliff, where they fell. They were presumed dead, and the area was abandoned to reinstall our bases in California.' That's all."

"What was that? Repeat the las part."

"It says 'they were presumed dead and'…"

A heavy sound interrupted Ben; the stranger had hit his desk with a fist, leaving both Ben and the shadow paralyzed in fear.

"'Presumed dead?!'" He shouted angrily. "How many times do I have to tell them that if they don't find their lifeless and cold bodies, they're NOT DEAD?" He took an old stapler from the desk and threw it at a window, breaking it. "I think I know who helped our little 'friend'."

"Sir, pardon my boldness, but how could they survive such a fall?"

"Ben, Ben, Ben. They are no one."

"No one, sir?"

"Yes; think of something no one could do, got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Alright, they already have done it. When I say they're no one, it's because they can do, can move and can think like no one." He sat in a chair, quite undone by time. "They're capable of doing the impossible, and that's why they're a priority." He looked back at the shadow. "Take your squad with you. I want you to look for them. Two wolves and one hawk. Do nothing more than locate them."

"Yes, sir." The shadow said before leaving the place.

"Sir, wouldn't it be better if we sent these… light destroyers? Aren't those our best shadows?"

"No. The light destroyers are not here right now. And if they were, it would be a waste to send them against those three. I sent that one with its squadron just to locate them. Afterwards I'll figure how to get rid of them."

"And what about the dog?"

"For him, things are going to get ugly." The stranger picked up the radio again. "Beta, Flor, I want you both in my office right away. I've got a new mission for you." He leaned back on the chair, getting himself more comfortable. "Ben, I want you to keep me informed; of everything."

"Yes, sir." Ben answered, already heading for the door. When he opened it, he found on the other side a Labrador Retriever with light brown fur and honey-colored eyes, standing next to a black and white Border Collie with dark brown eyes. "They're here, sir."

"Let them in. And get out."

Ben let the dogs inside the office, and walked out the door, closing it.

A few hours after the conversations in the building Bolt and Mittens were still asleep; however, their little friend wasn't.

Rhino's P.O.V.

 _Well, look at this. They seem to like sleeping together, it's the second day. If we add this to what I've already got, we have… nothing. I have nothing; maybe I should watch more detective movies._

Without making noise, I left Penny's room. I felt that the closer I got to the answer, the less I understood. I turned on the magic box and started looking for detective movies, but I couldn't find any, so for some reason, I ended up watching a romantic one. _Though I don't know what that will help with._

After about an hour and ten minutes or so, as the movie was about to end and I to fall asleep, I heard someone coming down the stairs. I turned to see who I was and greeted. "Good morning, Bolt."

"Morning, Rhino." He smiled as he walked into the kitchen. "You got up early today."

"Yes, I guess it's because I fell asleep before you did." _Maybe I'll find something now._ "And speaking of that, why did you two sleep together?"

Bolt stopped dead, and I think he blushed. "Well… Mittens was cold, and she asked me if she could sleep with me."

"Was it the same two nights ago?"

"Have you been observing us?" _I think the investigation came to an end. For now._

"No. Well, are you hungry? Because I'm starving." I went to the kitchen, followed by Bolt.

We both had breakfast, for I was trying to get closer to my answer. And I think Bolt was thinking. _But about what? Why does he get nervous when I mention the cat? I need to get information from the magic box._

"Rhino," He said, pulling me out of my thoughts. "I'll be in the garden."

"You're not disappearing again, are you?"

He chuckled. "No, I won't leave without telling you first. I don't want to see her worried like that again."

"She had a very hard time. You really worried her." _I can't think of any worse words I could have said._

He lowered his ears. "I know; and the worst part was when we talked in here, I had to–"

"What was that?" He seemed about to reveal something important.

"Nothing. I'll be outside." And he ran off.

With nothing more to do, I started looking for any movies that would be on the magic box later, maybe I could watch one with Bolt and Mittens. At first, nothing interesting, but after looking for some minutes, I came across this one, called 'The Matrix' and within the summary it said that nothing was what it seemed. _Sounds cool enough._

"Morning, Rhino." Mittens called from the stairs. _If I play my cards right, I may get something more from her._

"Good morning, Mittens. Slept well?" _If she reacts like Bolt… Aha! She blushed, too._

"Well… yes, very well." She went silent for a moment. "Where's Bolt?"

"Outside in the garden," Before she left, I asked something else. "Do you know when Penny and her mom are coming back?"

"Tonight." She answered as she headed out.

That was part of my plan; the last question was to distract her from the first one. Because if she talked to him and the subject came out, things would get more complicated for my investigation. Now I just had to wait until the movie started. Meanwhile, there were romantic movies everywhere, so I just picked one randomly and watched it as I waited.

* * *

As Rhino watched the television, Mittens went out into the garden to fetch Bolt. She looked for him and stopped when she saw him lying under the tree where she had sat to wait for him. Without knowing why, she approached him trying not to make a sound. When she was about to say something, she stopped as she heard her friend talking to himself.

"But it was not right. I don't know what's worse; hiding the truth from Mittens or missing my word with him. If his sister finds out, I'll be…"

"Be what?"

Bolt jumped up. "Mittens, hi. How long have you been there?" The worry on his face was noticeable as he asked.

Mittens began to feel strange. When Bolt mentioned 'his sister', many things went to her mind. Her chest began to ache a little, and although she tried not to jump into conclusions, she couldn't help to get bothered. "Enough." She replied with a slightly irritated tone, which he noticed immediately.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, something's bothering you. Tell me what it is." He asked again.

Without knowing why, she used a rather cynical tone when she answered. "I can't tell you, Bolt."

The dog felt a sharp pain in his chest at those words, understanding that Mittens was angry, and that last sentence had make it clear for him that it was because he hadn't told her the truth. "Is it because of last night?" He asked after a few seconds.

"I though you trusted me." She replied coldly. Even she didn't know why she was acting like that.

"You know I trust…"

"No!" Mittens interrupted. "I don't!" She shouted angrily, leaving Bolt quiet and with his head facing down. When she realized what she had done, she ran inside, and directly to Penny´s room. She lay on her mattress, breaking into tears.

Bolt stayed in the garden, not moving. That change in her attitude had worried him enough; he wanted to go and check on her, but something was stopping him. Then, in came Rhino.

"Bolt, Bolt, Earth to Bolt."

The dog moved his head a little. "Oh, yeah, Rhino. Sorry, I was distracted."

"I could tell as much." The hamster said. "Anyway, I wanted to know if you'd like to watch a movie that's about to start. It's called 'The Matrix'." He said making a heroic pose.

Bolt thought for a moment. _Maybe I could watch the movie with Rhino, afterwards talk to Mega, and then go and see how Mittens is._ "Alright, Rhino."

Both came into the living room, where Rhino came up with an idea. "Great. I'll ask Mittens if she wants to watch it too."

"I don't think you should bother her," Bolt mentioned cautiously. "She's… angry."

"What? What happened?"

"I'm not sure. But we better leave her alone for a while."

"I guess you're right. I'll check on her later on, but right now, it's about to begin." And so Rhino moved through the channels until he found where the movie was beginning.

"Rhino, what's the movie about?"

"I´m not sure, but the summary said that nothing is what it seems, and that got my attention. Look, it's already begun."

Both the hamster and the dog began to pay attention to the television.

While the two of them watched the film, in the distance there was a squadron of shadows moving around the outskirts of the city and towards the forest. Despite begin stealthy and cautious, they couldn't help being detected by a hawk that was in patrol flight.

"Great, trouble." He thought out loud.

Helang changed direction and returned to camp. As soon as he arrived, he notified the situation to the pair of wolves. "Guys, we have to dismantle camp and hide."

Both Mega and Byte complied with the order from the hawk without asking or complaining, hiding everything under shrubs or fallen logs. Once all was hidden, the three of them got muddled to prevent being smelled. Then Mega buried himself underground, Byte hid inside a fallen, hollow trunk. And Helang changed the tone of his plumage and stuck to a log for camouflage.

For a few minutes, no sound was heard. Then, slowly, demented laughter and incomprehensible comments began to be heard in the distance. Every second, the noises grew louder, and the tone of their chatter was so loud that even if Helang hadn't spotted them, they would have heard them miles before they reached camp.

"Move faster! Boss wants those three by tomorrow night at the latest!" That was the voice of the shadow that had been bothering Bolt and Mittens, leading the squadron. "Look everywhere!"

The shadows began to move to and fro, some as shadows and some with physical body, to cover all possibilities. For Mega and Helang there was no problem, but Byte had hidden in a place quite accessible. The shadows spent a lot of time searching, always checking on the same places over and over again, as if they expected them to appear. "Boss, there´s nothing here!" One of them shouted from a thicket.

"Okay, then let's go. We'll keep moving." And so, just as they had come, the voices and laughter drifted apart.

After a couple minutes, they all came out of their hiding places. Mega was the first one to speak, with that slightly childish tone in his voice. "Well, we've been discovered," He said as he shook the earth from his fur. "Now what?"

"We must be careful with our movements. Mega, if you're training Bolt, do it here, or where no one can see you. Byte, I need you to do research on their new bases and their structure. I'll keep on patrolling to prevent issues."

"Helang, why did we hide? We could have easily defeated them." Byte asked, getting out of the trunk.

"Because we would've given ourselves away: Pitt wants his troops back by tomorrow, and if we eliminated them, no one would have returned. Then we would be in trouble." The hawk explained as he regained the usual colors on his plumage.

"You promised me that one day you would teach me to do that." Mega pointed out.

"The process is no different than the one you used to develop your current skills. You just need to take time to direct your attention to your fur and then to the color you want it to take. Simple." After explaining, he stretched his wings and took flight.

"Hey, Byte, how long were the shadows looking for us?"

"About an hour. If they had _really_ searched, they would have found us."

"Quite right, I guess we have to be careful." Mega lay in the floor. "Well, I'll rest for a bit and then wait for Bolt."

"Uh, what do you mean, 'I'll wait for Bolt'? What did you do know, Mega?"

"First of all, don't talk to me like that. Maybe you're more mature and all, but I'm not stupid. I just taught him how to call us, just in case."

"So?"

"He'll call me for sure. Something happened last night and he'll want to talk to me."

Byte rolled her eyes. "For being an adult, you often act like a pup, Mega."

"A little humor doesn't hurt anyone." And he laid his head on his paws. "He'll call me, you'll see."

Meanwhile, Bolt and Rhino were about to finish watching the movie. Rhino had liked it from the beginning because of the action, and Bolt had its attention really drawn into it when things really showed not to be what they seemed. They were still sitting in the living room, while Mittens had fallen asleep after spending some time lying on her mattress.

Mittens' P.O.V.

I was sitting in the living room, nobody was with me. I used that time to think a little.

 _Why did I treat Bolt like that?_ I leaned back on the couch to think. I had never raised my voice so much, I hadn't yelled at him for so long. Why now?

I heard a cold laugh and imagined what was going on. "Because he betrayed you, kitten."

"That's not true. I've known him for more than nine months. He would never do something like that."

"Then why did you treat him like that?" It asked with another laugh, making me silent. I didn't know the answer to that. "I'll give you a clue. I helped you."

That made a lot more sense. "You made me yell at Bolt? Why!?"

"Because you wanted to."

"That's not true! I don't…"

"You're afraid of losing him. You're afraid to think he can leave you. Afraid to give him your heart."

"Show me who you are." If It was going to be bothering, at least I wanted to know what it was.

From the shadow of a piece of furniture another shadow grew, and then it began to move towards me. When it was close enough, it shape shifted. Two arms came out, two eyes and a mouth. It had no legs. Then it rose from the ground and looked at me in the eye. "I'm here, kitten." I didn't like it. "Now, we'll discuss your relationship with Bolt."

"And how do you know…"

"I know. That's it. You are insecure, you have doubts, you are afraid. You fear for his answer, and doubt your capability to tell him how you feel. I can help you."

"How would you do such a thing?" My curiosity asked, having won over my mistrust for the shadow.

"I can make you more capable, more determined. I can make you so beautiful, so much that Bolt won't ever pay attention to another female on the planet, dog, cat, no one. He will only have eyes for you; he'll only want to be with you." It put on a rather ugly and dismal smile. "In exchange for something."

"In exchange for what?"

"If I do all this for you, you'll have to lend me something indefinitely."

"And that would be…"

"Your body. You'll let me use your body."

 _What the hell would it want my body for? I don't like this, where this is going. But… would it be able to do all that it promises?_

"Well?" It asked me, with desperation in its voice.

"I… no."

"No? Sure, well, you can do whatever you want." And so it began to grow. "But I hope that you understand this. Without me, without my help he will never love you. Without me, you'll lose him, and you can't do anything to avoid that!"

"Ah!" I managed to wake up, quite agitated. I watched the room and everything was just as it should be. Then I heard Rhino screaming things downstairs, so I decided to go and see what was going on. When I arrived, I saw him sitting next to Bolt. On the television were the credits of a movie.

"Free your MIND!" He shouted as he jumped out of the couch. Half a second later, he was on the floor. "We'll work on that."

Bolt chuckled at his comment. "You remember there's a difference between knowing the path, and walking it, don't you?" Apparently they hadn't seen me yet.

 _But what in the world did they just watch?_

"Do you want to watch another one, Bolt?"

"No thanks, Rhino. I have to… meet a friend." _What? No, no, no; calm yourself, easy._

"May I know whom?" The hamster asked.

"I'm sorry Rhino, but I can't tell you." _At least he didn't tell him either._

"Ah, it's okay. Just don't leave without saying anything."

"I won't." And Bolt left the house.

Without Rhino noticing, I went out from the kitchen window. I could catch sight of Bolt going towards the barn. _He has never been interested in that place before. Why now?_

I decided to wait from where I was for something to happen. And it happened. About ten minutes after Bolt came in, I saw someone running at an amazing speed enter the barn. I didn't recognize who it was. In silence, I approached and looked for a place where I could enter without being seen. I found an entrance to the upper part of the barn, so I sneaked in and started listening since I couldn't see them. Bolt was in the middle of a talk.

"And it felt bad enough to have to lie to them. I don't understand why I can't tell them about you guys, Mega." _Then they ASKED him not to talk about them. Why?_

The voice of whoever answered was deep and grave. "I told you Bolt. The more they know, the more danger they will be in."

"But, Mittens…"

"Bolt, if you love her so much, listen to me." _Bolt loves me?_ "You'd better keep her out. If she gets to know something she's not meant to, she'll put herself into terrible danger."

Bolt hesitated before answering. "And what if I already told her… a little?"

"Define 'a little'."

"I told her that you helped me. That you were two, and that you were brothers."

"That's it?"

"Yes."

"Oh, it's not that bad. But say no more, you'll be putting her in danger." There was a moment of silence. "Now, as for other subjects, I have plenty of things to explain to you and–" Just as I had entered, I left the barn, I couldn't believe it. Bolt had been trying to protect me, and I had treated him so bad. My stomach started to ache. But that Mega had mentioned that Bolt loves me. _He loves me?_ At least I didn't feel as insecure as before. But before doing anything else, before trying anything, I had to repair what I had done to him.

* * *

 **So this is chapter 6, I did got a little late with this one, but it's been an occupied week. Just a little note: As for how in the world Megas spent an hour buried without dying, or Helang changed the color of his feathers, I'll tell you those three are 'special', and that's not the only thing they can do. So yeah, I hope you enjoyed and next one will be as soon as I can. Special thanks to the two current followers of this story: Basbon and starfiction123, and thanks everyone for reading. Also, merry christmas to you all. Nos vemos pronto.**


	7. A little adventure at home

Chapter 7: A little adventure at home.

While Mittens was thinking about a way to compensate Bolt for what she had done to him, Bolt was still inside, talking to Mega. The wolf was about to explain some details about the mess he was being dragged into.

"Well, I have plenty to explain to you and very little time. I don't think I've got to remind you that that you should not tell anyone about this." Bolt nodded. "Well, you know the shadows; they're annoying, they are smug, ambitious and liars. But neither are they a great threat, because their strength is born of negative emotions from those whom they invade. With what I taught you, it should be enough for them to stop bothering you." The wolf stopped seeing that Bolt had raised his paw. "What is it?"

"Well, last night a shadow came to my dreams again, but I took it off." He told the wolf with a rather serious expression. "What worries me is that when it realized it couldn't stay in my mind, it invaded Mittens'. I tried to calm her by whispering some words to her, and I think it worked, but what should I do if they continue to harass them?"

Mega was silent for a while; apparently he hadn't contemplated that option. "I think you can show them how to fight those, but nothing more. If they ask you how you know that, tell them it's from experience." He said at last. Bolt only nodded so Mega could continue. "Okay, leave it like that. As for the shadows, they're annoying, but they're not the biggest threat. In fact, most of them are shadows, but we only use the term for the lower status ones. The next ones in line are the ellit, which are more dangerous than the common ones." Mega took a deep breath to follow. "They're stronger, and they know how to manipulate an entity better than the ordinary shadows. If given enough strength, they can take control of someone's body without their consent, contrary to the common ones, which can only do so if the guest agrees to it."

"Who would want to leave his body under the control of a shadow?"

"This world is very big, Bolt. There's such variety in it that where someone claims to have seen something white, someone else can prove it's black. Now, the next ones in strength are…"

Time kept going by as Bolt tried to memorize as much as he could, but nothing seemed to stick; there were too many names: ellit, gelap, tume, ohtlik, bencana. And basically each could do the same as the previous, but more easily and/or were more difficult to defeat in combat.

"Finally, there are the light destroyers. I want you to pay close attention to these. First, their appearance; unlike all of the above, these can stop being seen as shadows to take another form _exactly_. However, they have to be long inside someone for it to work, otherwise in details like the eyes it becomes visible that they're not who they claim to be. Next, they know how to use their skills in a very similar way to us. Finally, they are the only ones that can be defeated with light."

The last part caught Bolt's attention. "With light?"

"Yes, whether it's a spotlight or your light, it's the only way to beat them. That's why they usually move only at night." The wolf scratched his ear before continuing. "The others can fall to light, but they can also be defeated with normal combat. These ones can't. You need a fairly strong light source or they destroy it, hence their name. Now, they're normally accommodated in tracking, hunting, elite and light destroyers' squads." Mega smiled at Bolt, who seemed dizzy at the amount of information he had just received during the last fifty minutes. "Now, lesson two–"

"No, wait a moment please." The white dog requested. "I think my head is going to explode. Can you summarize lesson two?"

The wolf stood up. "Lesson two is about combat." He smiled again. "This relates a lot to lesson three: use of your senses. Now, stand up."

Bolt got up, then the wolf moved a little away from him and stood in combat position, parting his four legs and ducking slightly. "I'm waiting."

Bolt understood where Mega was going with that and imitated him. "Ready, Mega."

"All right, part one: always alert. Part two: stay calm. I won't, but the shadows will try to provoke you to attack without thinking, that way they'll have the upper hand. Part three: will. You need to have the will, not to attack your opponent, but to defend your friends. Otherwise you'll get in the wrong direction." Bolt kept nodding at every of the instructions. "Part four, adaptability. In a real battle you can use the environment, the weather or the objects in your surroundings in your favor; it can give you a critical advantage if you know how."

Mega flexed his legs a little, apparently, theory time was over. "Let's go!"

He started to run toward where Bolt was, yet the dog still was able to move aside. "Good. We'll see how you do with multiple attacks." He got closer to Bolt, but this time the wolf started throwing vertical and horizontal claws, while the shepherd was to dodge with some difficulty. One of the attacks hit him on his leg, same where the bite was, causing him to scream in pain a little, and giving time for Mega to throw him back, so the dog ended up crashing against the barn wall.

"How am I doing?" He asked after getting up a little sore.

"Not bad. You can evade really well. We'll work on you counterattack." He started to walk toward Bolt, but when the dog stepped into position, Mega lifted his paw. "I think that's enough for today. Between the hour I ventured sorting shadows and the blow I just gave you, I would say you deserve a rest."

"Thanks, it did hurt a lot…" Before Bolt finished speaking, Mega moved closer to him. He took some air and blew it into his paw, then placed it over Bolt's wounds. "What are you doing?" But the wolf didn't answer. After a few seconds, the pain in Bolt's back disappeared. "How'd you that?"

"You´ll learn it, in time. Now, I think I must go, or Byte will be…" He broke off as a knocking was heard on the barn's door. "Uh, oh."

"Bolt, what was that noise?" It was Mittens' voice, though Rhino was with her. "You okay?"

"Think of something, Bolt." Mega urged softly, looking worried. "If they see me we'll have to answer lots of questions."

"Let me handle it." Then he raised his voice. "I´m fine, Mittens. It was nothing." He lowered his voice again. "I hope it works."

"Half a dozen bones it won't. I was not even an excuse you…"

"Okay, if you need anything, Rhino will be on the TV and I´ll be under the tree." Something in her voice had changed, perhaps because she knew who was with him.

"I think you owe me half a dozen bones." He told the wolf with a smile. "Okay, I´ll go outside and convince Mittens to go into the house so that you can leave without being seen."

"Sounds good. And I´ll get you those bones. Someday."

"Well, I´ll wait for them, then." Bolt lifted his paw and Mega shook it. "See you tomorrow."

"Sure thing."

Bolt opened the door and walked out, pretending he hadn't received a one-hour shadow lesson, along with a combat one that ended up with a blow on the back. _I just hope they don't ask too many questions._

Bolt's P.O.V.

Just as she had told me, Mittens was under the tree. _If I did a recount of the relevance that tree has taken over the las few days…_

"Hi, Bolt." She pulled me out of my thoughts, her voice almost made me forget everything that had happened, soft and sweet.

"Hi, Mittens. What are you doing?"

"I was thinking." She said with a smile. I don't know what could have happened while I was with Mega, but she seemed in a much better mood.

 _I need to think of something to make her come inside with me…_ My stomach went ahead and growled. She laughed a little. "I think you're hungry."

Then her stomach growled, too. And I couldn't help but chuckle myself. "I think you are, too. Should we go and eat?" _Say yes, say yes, say yes, say yes…_

"All right." _Yes!_ "Let's go." She started to walk and I followed. Once inside, and to our surprise, the television was turned off. Rhino was on the couch, looking much focused. "What do you think he´s doing?" Mittens whispered to me. She was definitely in a better mood, though I have no idea why.

"Being him, it could be anything. Let's leave him alone." We both came into the kitchen to eat. Although Penny was not back, there was still enough food for today in our bowls, so I figured that tomorrow she would be back.

We both ate without saying anything. I think Mittens was thinking, I could see her stop eating and stay still for some seconds and then continue as if nothing. I never took my eyes from her; I had to think of a way to compensate her yesterday night and today in the morning. I was in that when I heard a gust of wind that lasted for a couple of seconds.

I think Mittens was really focused, because she was startled to hear the wind. "What was that?"

 _Probably Mega._ "I think it was the wind. Probably nothing."

She was silent for a few seconds. "Bolt, if you don't mind I'm going out to the barn."

"Yeah, I´ll be upstairs resting. I´m pretty tired."

"Why are you?"

"Nothing. I'm just tired from yesterday." _I hope she doesn't ask any more questions. It's really hard for me not to tell her._

"Okay." And without asking me more, she left the kitchen, passing very close to me. I blushed at that. "See you later, Bolt." She said me in a tone that I couldn't recognize, but that caught my attention and made me blush more.

 _What was that? She had never done anything like that, but somehow, it felt good._ Without thinking more, I went upstairs to rest, just hoping that they wouldn't bother me this time. So, I closed my eyes.

I think I slept for a couple of hours, to my luck, with no shadows bothering. When I opened my eyes, everything was in its place; however, I managed to perceive a delicious aroma in the air. I got up immediately and began to follow it without paying attention to where I was going. The smell led me to the barn, but when I tried to open the door, I noticed it was locked. I knocked; I really wanted to know what the smell was. Shortly after, a couple of paws covered my eyes from behind. "Guess who I am."

"What's all this, Mittens?" She had been acting rather strange all day.

"I want to give you a surprise. Close your eyes." I did without letting a second pass. Then I felt her paws moving away from my eyes and I heard the barn door open. "Follow my voice." I obeyed and entered the barn; the smell was so intense there, I could barely keep my eyes closed. "Stop right there. Open them." In front of me there was a plate with a couple of… steaks of veal? I think that's what they're called. Then Mittens spoke again. "I… I realized that I never apologize for today in the morning, so I got you this."

Now I felt bad. I had lied to her more times in these two days than in the rest of the time I'd known her. "Mittens, it was not necessary, you know…"

"No, Bolt, I acted like a total fool; I shouldn't have yelled at you. This is the… the least I could do to make it up." She lowered her head with a sad expression.

I sighed. "Okay." She looked at me. "But don't call yourself like that. You have the same amount of foolishness, as I have of superpowers."

She chuckled at my comment. "None?"

"Exactly."

She came up to me and hugged me. "Thanks, Bolt. For everything."

"Thank you, Mittens."

We both hugged for a while, oblivious to the world. Nothing was said, there was nothing to say. We stayed like that until my stomach complained that I hadn't eaten those steaks yet.

She laughed softly. "I think you want to eat."

"I think so." _Now that´s a way to ruin the moment._

I began to eat one of them. It was something delicious; I don't remember having eaten anything like that, nothing so tasty, either on the set or on our trip. I was going to ask her where did she get them, but I decided not to. I looked up and saw that she was already observing me, without saying anything. I kept eating, never taking my eyes off hers. _Maybe I can tell her now what I feel. We are alone and it seems like the right time._ But she got ahead of me.

"Bolt, there's something I want to tell you." She turned her gaze from mine and blushed a little. "It's something very important to me."

"What is it, Mittens?"

"Well, I…" A noise from the outside interrupted her. "What was that?"

"I´ll check it out. Stay here." I left the barn. I think Mittens was about to tell me what I was struggling to tell her.

Once outside I could see, stunned, in the garden there was a shadow with a physical body. It was placing some metal sticks in different places, and even though I didn't know what those were for, I knew that nothing a shadow did could be good. "What are you doing!?"

"Oh, hello, puppy; I didn't notice you." Its cynical tone and voice told me it was the same shadow that had entered my dreams. Twice. After 'greeting' me, it turned and continued to plant those sticks.

I tried not to lose my temper, but stay firm in tone. "Stop doing that."

I think my comment bothered it, for it left the sticks it had remaining and looked at me. "You want to be a hero, puppy?" Then Mittens appeared and came to my side. "Oh, and the kitten is with you, good. Now we can play." _This will get ugly._ "I have a game. I'm going to ask you about those who helped you defend yourself, and you're going to tell me everything," It turned to Mittens. "or I will make her suffer."

"I won´t let you place a finger on her." And then, without more than a day of training, I stood in the combat position Mega taught me. I turned my head to face Mittens. "Stay behind me."

"Bolt, I…"

"Oh, how noble. What a poignant." It was making it hard for me to keep calm, with its cynical tone in every word. "If you want to play hero, let's play." It said, taking the form of a dog, but only in broad strokes; It didn´t have a defined breed, nor the snout or the ears of a dog, so I figured it was not one of those light destroyers Mega had mentioned. _"Yeah, actually, it's a common one, Bolt."_

 _Mega, where are you?_

" _I told you I would keep watch, and if I didn't then you know now. I'm close to cover you, just in case. Now show it what you know, hero."_ Contrary to when the shadow said it, I liked Mega to call me that. I would ask him later why had I heard his voice in my head.

"Well, I'm still waiting." Knowing that the shadow would try and provoke me, I put the same principle in practice. If I could get it to attack without a strategy, it would be easier to counterattack.

Fortunately, the shadow fell. "Well, here I come!" It hurled itself at me at great speed, but not as fast as Mega, giving me enough time to avoid its attack and kick its side. "Ah, you'll see!" It was being really easy to provoke it, if I continued this way…

"Bolt!"

But I was too slow and it tackled me, and before I could get up, it lunged at me again, throwing me even farther. Then it started laughing like crazy. "I thought you at least knew how to fight, puppy. And to think that they believe you're the pillar." It prepared to attack once more, but this time I was ready. Just before it hit me again, I closed my fist and hit it between its eyes and mouth, where it should have a nose, stopping it death and forcing it to step back. I could tell it got annoyed and began to make quick claws, which I dodged with little difficulty.

"Tired yet, pup?"

"I'm just beginning."

I waited for it to leave its chest unprotected and I threw myself on it, giving it a headbutt on the spot. The shadow twisted in pain and receded, returning to its original form. "Maybe I underestimated you, puppy. But it doesn't matter I can finish my work…" It turned and saw that not one of the metal sticks it had been placing was left. "Where´s my work?!"

" _Mission: Successful!"_ Mega shouted in my head. _"Well done, Bolt."_

 _But what did I do?_

" _For starters, you managed to hit it rather well, and in self-defense. Afterwards, you gave us time to take its artifacts while it was fighting you. So make that half-dozen bones into one and a half. I'll pay you sometime."_

 _Th-Thanks, Mega._

The shadow was frustrated and angry, somewhat ironic, considering that it fed in those emotions. Finally, without saying anything else, it left, vanishing into the air. A few seconds later Mittens was by my side again.

"Bolt, are you okay? Did it hurt you?" She seemed really worried, even if it had only hit me twice.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." I replied, trying to sound as calm as possible, since the blows actually had left a little pain in my chest.

" _Okay, Bolt, I need you to see me in the woods ASAP"_ Mega again.

 _What? Right now?_

" _No, it's quite late already. Look for me tomorrow in the barn at noon. If I'm not there, come to the forest."_ Byte said this time. That intrigued me more, but I figured they wouldn't answer me anymore.

"Okay."

"'Okay' what?" Asked Mittens, and I realized I had said the last one aloud.

"Er… if you're okay, you're alright?"

I could see that she blushed a little. "I´m fine, thank you."

"What´s going on here?" Apparently Rhino had heard the noise. But then again, he would have to be deaf to not hear it.

"Yes, Bolt, what was that?" _Uh-oh._

"I-I need a moment." I excused myself and ran back into the barn; the place where I had begun my training and been close enough to declare my love to Mittens, all on the same day, and without leaving home. What an adventure.

 _Mega! They want to know what the shadows are._

I waited a couple seconds for the answer. _"Tell them the truth, it looks like we'll have to move faster. If this goes on, you won't have to worry for hiding this from them."_ That made me feel a little excited, I really hated having to lie to them every time they asked.

 _Wait, is that good or bad?_

" _Both, Bolt."_

I left the barn and went inside to find Mittens and Rhino. I didn't see them in the garden, so I assumed they would be inside. I came in through the doggy door, and found them in the couch, waiting for me apparently. "Well, I think I should tell you a little." I sat down in front of them. "That thing was a shadow." I took a breath before going on. "They dedicate to invade minds and infuse them with fear anger and doubt."

"I've already seen one."

"Me too."

"You too, Rhino?" That surprised me a lot. "I knew Mittens had been dealing with one, but you never act strange or anything."

"How did you know it was bothering me?"

"I woke up last night after getting rid of one, but before leaving, it threatened to attack you. When I woke up…" The whole explanation took about half an hour. I told them what they were, how they acted and that there were several classes, along with what I have done the night before, when I saw Mittens asleep with a worried face. When they asked me where I had gotten that information, I had to tell them that they couldn't know just yet. Both seemed to take it quite well.

"It seems that we ended in the middle of something very big." Mittens pointed out, looking worried.

"Don't worry, for we have Bolt: the super dog, with us" That reminded me of what I had told Mittens when we were in the barn _'You have the same amount of foolishness, as I have of superpowers' Maybe we would need a real super dog to get out of this one._ "And if things get sticky, he'll use a super bark and send all the shadows back to… from wherever they come from." And Rhino seemed more excited to return to action than concerned for out safety. _That´s our Rhino._

"What are we going to do, Bolt?" She asked me as she came up to me and laid her head on my chest, before hugging me. "I'm scared."

I corresponded her embrace and placed my head on hers. "Don't worry, Mittens. I won't let anything happen to you, any of you." _Even if I don't know how to fight yet, I would take care of them until my last breath. I'll train hard to be able to protect them from anything and everything._

* * *

The afternoon ended with the three friends having dinner without saying anything and then going up to sleep. They were a little surprised that Penny wasn't back yet, but since there was still enough food for them, they assumed she would return later in the evening. So they all went to sleep, each with something on their minds: Bolt was determined to protect his friends, especially Mittens; she was worried for her canine friend, she didn't want him to get hurt for trying to protect her. Both of them slept together, as it was becoming customary. Rhino, on the other side, was excited to see some real life action, and was also willing to defend his friends, with powers or without them.

Meanwhile, in the camp, Mega and Byte were arguing like the good siblings they were.

"I told you, no! If Bolt involves his friends, he'll put them in danger!"

"And I told you they're already in danger! That shadow was placing an electric field around the whole house! Look, tell him to bring them tomorrow and…"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"That´s enough!" Helang appeared, back from a patrol. "We're on the verge of a confrontation and the two of you are arguing like children over a toy." Both wolves lowered their heads in embarrassment "It's not usual for me to say this, but I agree with Mega; none of them are safe now, and it wouldn't be wise to keep them apart from Bolt."

Contrary to the attitude she had sustained throughout the discussion, Byte accepted the hawk's decision without complaining. "Alright, Helang; then I suppose tomorrow we'll tell them everything." She said as she leaned back in the grass.

"Just what they have to know." Mega answered, clearly proud for having won the argument. "I´ll be at noon to pick them up. Shadows can't be outside at that time." And he leaned back, too. "I´ll bring them here as fast as I can."

"All right; whether he is or not the pillar, Bolt can be great ally in this. More, considering that they have already begun to attack them." And so, the hawk closed his eyes on a branch.

* * *

 **And here goes chapter 7. Things are getting crazier for every chapter. For the shadow names and weird words, you can ignore them. I'll just use the common, tracking, hunting, elite, and light destroyers. The weird names are words like dark or dangerous in latin, malay, or estionian. Also, a little note: next chapter doesn't follow the story's continuity. It'll be a short narrative from Rhino's P.O.V., from when a shadow tried to invade his mind. And I think tah's it. Thanks everyone for reading, and thanks again to Basbon and starfiction123 for reviewing and keeping me motivated to translate this. Anyway, nos vemos luego.  
**


	8. (Fb) A shadow in Rhino's mind

Chapter 8: (Flashback) A shadow in Rhino's mind.

We are back to the day in which Penny took her pets to the park, when they met Alpha, Delta and Kass. It was late and Rhino had fallen asleep on the way back.

Rhino's P.O.V.

I was walking the streets of the city in the company of my two great friends, Bolt and Mittens. Rather, they were walking; I was over Bolt's back, wearing my favorite sunglasses to give style to the moment.

Suddenly, we heard a shuddering noise. We went to investigate and found nothing more and nothing less than Dr. Calico on a droid that was at least twelve feet tall.

"Okay, let's play a little." I said as I took off my sunglasses. "Bolt?"

"Give me a moment." He pulled Mittens away a little. "I want you to stay here." She was the only one of us who didn't have superpowers, but we never left her behind.

"Okay." She kissed Bolt on the lips. Curiously, those two had a relationship. "Rhino take care of him, please."

"As I've always done."

And so, we both started running to where Dr. Calico's robot was. When we arrived, one of its four arms tried to hit us, to our luck, failing and giving us free way to attack. Bolt tried to slam it, but another of its arms blocked the way, so he damaged the arm and not the main mechanism as he had planned.

"Rhino, what do we do?" He asked me, dodging two other arms.

Using my super-intelligence, I calculated a million of possibilities and another of probabilities; Bolt didn't have this ability, although he didn't really need it, he had always been clever enough. "Bolt, the palms of its hands and soles of its feet are covered with styrofoam!"

He came running towards me. "Any suggestions?" We saw one of the feet was about to crush us, so we both rolled out of its way, one on each side. "Rhino!?"

"Give me a moment, I'm thinking." Then I felt him pulling me up and placing me on his back so I would not be so vulnerable. "Maybe… Aha! Bolt, I need you to distract it."

"It will be a pleasure." So I jumped from Bolt's back as he began to catch the machine's attention.

 _So, if my calculations are correct, the robot distributes its weight and stability in those joints. I just hope they're not lined or made of Styrofoam._

I aimed at its right ankle and used my heat vision. After some seconds, the metal began to get red and hot, as the robot sank on its ankle.

"Yes! I have to tell Bolt."

I ran towards him until I was close enough. He was still distracting the robot. "Bolt! Use the heat vision on its joints!"

We both quickly began to aim to its knees, wrists, and elbows with the heat vision, while still evading its attacks, which were becoming less by the moment. Being distracted, the only arm that still worked prepared an attack against me. Bolt ran to take me out of its way, and I quickly calculated the odds. Sure enough, Bolt would reach me, but we would not have time to get out of the impact area. _If I die here, I'll die with honor._ I closed my eyes for the impact, but it never came. When I opened them again, everything was gray.

"Hello? Bolt? Mittens?" There seemed to be no one around. I turned around and saw both of them, mortally wounded, on the ground. "Guys!" I ran towards them to see if I could do anything.

Bolt was the only one who reacted. "Rhino… stop… them." That was all he said before closing his eyes. I didn't have time to mourn or cry, since I heard a grim laugh, typical of a villain.

"Who are you? Show yourself, creature of the darkness." Then I saw a shadow approaching me, still laughing. When it was close enough, it rose from the ground.

"Oh, but if it's the little mouse who couldn't save his friends." It told me with a cynical tone in utterance.

"No, I would never fail them like that. I'll protect them until the end." I answered decisively. "It was you who hurt them."

"And what are you going to do about it?" It brought its hands close to each other. In the small space left between them, a kind of dark sphere began to appear. When it had a considerable size, the shadow smiled at me. "Run." And it threw it at me.

I started running as fast as I could, but my superpowers were not working. The sphere approached quickly; if it hit me… I closed my eyes and thought of my friends, I felt I had to protect them from any threat, regardless of the odds. When I opened my eyes again, I was running at super speed again. "Yes!" I accelerated to leave the sphere behind and came back at full speed to strike the creature of the darkness. I was so fast, it didn't even had time to see me when I was already striking its side.

It twisted in pain for a while; when it recovered, it looked angry. "Come here!" And it began to stretch its arm to reach me, but again I used super speed to get away from it. When I was far enough away, I stopped and turned to stare to the black arm that was trying to reach me. After a little, I laughed to see that it had a couple of holes right through its palm and that it was screaming in pain.

Slowly, the whole city began to reappear, along with my friends, who were now standing side by side a few feet behind me.

"Why can't I bend your mind? Why don't you give in to the darkness? How come you beat me?" Apparently, the creature of the darkness didn't think I would be a worthy opponent. _Serious error._

Despite not understanding its questions fully, I answered; jut to give it the finishing touch.

"Because you messed with Rhino the super hamster. And that never ends well for anyone" I said as I put my sunglasses back on. As I saw it didn't move, I got into position and threw at supersqueak at it.

I managed to hear it scream as it disappeared from the place. Then everyone around me began to say my name. "Rhino! Rhino! Rhino!" Close to me, Bolt and Mittens were embracing each other with a tender expression on their faces. "You're the hero, Rhino." He mouthed as he hugged her.

Everything was great, until I heard with my super ear someone shouting in the distance. "Help! Somebody help me!" From Bolt's expression I figured he heard it, too.

"Let's go, Bolt, the work of a hero never ends." I prepared to use super speed, but waited for Mittens to get on Bolt's back. "Ready?"

"And you?"

"Always, Bolt." We both smiled and started to run towards the danger, ready to save the day again.

* * *

 **And that's it with Rhino's dream. Short chapter, I know. Anyway, there will be more flashbacks, all of them in full chapters later on, for a couple of situations. Also, yes, I made Bolt and Mittens a couple in Rhino's dream, just to make it ironic. Well, that's all for today, next chapeter goes back into the main story, and Happy New Year people! Nos vemos luego.  
**


	9. The beginning of an important day

Chapter 9: The beginning of an important day

It was already dawning in California, being about six-thirty. The day was starting with different situations in three different places. In an abandoned building, a shadow was being scolded for its poor performance in its recent missions.

"This is unacceptable! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to make those generators?! How could you lose them?"

"I'm sorry, sir; I have no excuse. I was fighting the pup and when I turned around…"

"You fought him? How did that end?"

"I managed to hit him a couple of times, but he did, too, and pretty hard. I think he has more light than we expected."

"Why do you believe that?"

"Because the two only hits that he managed to give me, even if they weren't so strong of well-aimed, began to weaken me. The second one even forced me out of a transformation."

"Interesting; take a break, and I want you to write everything you remember into the puppy's file. And add five percent to the probability of him being the pillar." The shadow nodded and headed for the exit, but the stranger stopped it again. "Don't think I forgot about the generators, but we'll discuss the matter later." And he left the shadow to leave, rather nervous.

Being alone, the stranger began to think out loud. "I just hope Beta and Flor can do their part. If what it told me is true, that dog is a potential threat. If he is the pillar and we don't eliminate it…"

Meanwhile, in a camp, Mega was attempting to implement the principle to change the color of his fur. Byte was training with Helang.

"Okay, now with your reflexes." The hawk said as he took some twigs from a pile. "Close your eyes and concentrate."

"Ready." The wolf responded after following Helang's instruction.

"Okay." Helang began to throw the twigs at Byte, to different places, from different angles and with different strength; sometimes one after another, sometimes only one at a time. Byte, without opening her eyes, began to move to dodge the twigs. Her movements where smooth and agile; raising a paw, crouching, making a small leap, roll over to one side, to the other, move backwards. She came to open her snout to catch one without letting it escape, then used the twig to hit those Helang was still throwing away from her path. The pile was exhausted with none having hit Byte.

"Well done," Helang congratulated her. "You have improved a lot since last time."

"I've been training with Mega while you were out." She opened her eyes. "What else have you got?"

"Your reflexes were the last thing, but if you're up for something else, we could try a combat session." The falcon smiled.

Byte thought about it for a minute. "Okay, but standard combat; no speed or camouflage or anything like that."

"Pure combat ability," Helang still had his smile on, since they had memory, he had always been stronger than both of them. He extended his wings. "Ready?"

Byte moved away from him a little, and took combat position. "Ready."

"Then let's do it." The hawk took up flight at high speed, still inside the standards for his species. When he gained enough height, he began to plunge with Byte as a target. Being close to her, Helang moved his claws forward, making for the hunting position of a hawk. Byte waited until the last second, knowing that her opponent could change trajectory quickly if she moved before time. When it was time, Byte moved to her left, letting the hawk pass by and kicking him on the back, pushing him to the ground. Then she moved quickly and, without giving him a chance to get up again, began to try and bite his wings.

While Byte and Helang were training together, Mega was concentrating on the fur-color change. He was apart from the other two, and had his eyes closed.

 _Okay, concentrate. Your fur, your coat; recognize it. It's dark gray, with a slight blue pigmentation. It is okay for it to be like that, but I require for it to be now… Red!_ He opened his eyes to see that his coat was still the same, "Oh, what a rage! I can't do this."

" _Never say 'I can't', Mega."_

"Master?"

 _"Focus, Mega. Since I've known you, you are the most courageous. The one who always rejoices the situation for your brothers, always positive. If you're discouraged, in whom will they joy rest?"_

"But it's hard."

 _"Your hyper speed was difficult at a time; the important thing is that you don't give up. From the moment you say 'I can't' you limit yourself. Trust me, Mega, what lies ahead is difficult and you'll need a strong will."_

"Thanks, master." The wolf said, making a slight bow not to anyone in particular, and then continued practicing.

At Penny's house, Bolt was the first one to wake, a little agitated by a nightmare he'd had. When he didn't see Penny, he carefully separated from Mittens, trying not to wake her, and went downstairs. While in the kitchen he realized that there was no more food in their bowls, they had eaten the last of it the previous night. Penny would never leave them without food, which meant that she hadn't come back yet. With nothing else to do, he went to the living room and jumped to the couch to think. The nightmare he'd had this time was somehow different from the ones the shadow had provoked. This one worried him more than the first ones. The dog was still in his thoughts when he heard his best friend coming downstairs.

"Good morning, Bolt." The hamster said, still looking sleepy.

"Morning, Rhino."

"You had breakfast?"

"Not really. We don't have any more food left. Penny hasn't come back yet." Bolt couldn't help sound worried as he said that, but Rhino didn't seem to get the tone he used.

"Maybe they're just late. We can take some food ourselves meanwhile."

Bolt sighed. "All right, but let's wait for Mittens to come down, and have breakfast together."

Rhino nodded and headed for the couch. Once there, he took the remote and switched on the television. "Look, they're starting to play horror movies. We must be near Halloween." He commented as he saw what would be on the T.V. for that day.

"What's Halloween?"

"It's a human holiday." Mittens said, just after coming down. "On that date humans, children in general, disguise themselves as monsters and ask their neighbors for candy. It's also common to see that people decorate their houses like cemeteries or similar things and they watch horror films in the television."

"Thanks, Mittens." Bolt always found it pleasant that she had the patience to explain him the concepts of the world he didn't yet know.

"Well," Rhino interjected. "In other news, Penny's not back."

"She's not?" Mittens asked a little surprised.

"They're not in here. And I don't think they have reasons to stay out in the car. If they were back, we would know."

The three agreed to eat what they could and wait for Penny. Between the three managed to throw down the bag with Bolt's food, and Mittens found a jar with cookies for Rhino. For her she found a tin of tuna, although opening it was a mess, in the end it was worth it. When the three finished breakfast, everyone went on their own. Rhino sat in the couch to watch T.V., Mittens went upstairs, to Penny's room, and Bolt went to the tree, to think a little more.

While Bolt was thinking, in the forest, Mega was running very excitedly to where his sister was. "Byte, Byte, Byte! Look, look, look!" The wolf's fur was scarlet red "Look at this; I managed to master the fur-color change! Look!" The wolf closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Look, I'm green now!" Then he did it again. "I'm yellow now!" He repeated the process. "I'm purple!"

Before he went ahead with that, Byte made him a gesture for him to pay attention. "Well done, Mega. But you're aware that doing that spends your energy, energy that you're going to need to go for Bolt and his friends in little time, right?" She asked him.

Mega went silent. "Um… yes, I already knew that."

"You had no idea, right?"

Mega lowered his head, somewhat ashamed. "No, I didn't."

The yellowish wolf sighed. "Sometimes I seriously doubt that you're the oldest." She took another breath. "Rest for a while, if you don't have enough energy for noon, I'll go for them."

"Very well." Mega replied, laying back and putting on his childish smile again.

"I see you managed the fur-color change," Helang spoke, just returning from a patrol. "Congratulations, Mega."

"Any news?" Byte asked the hawk.

"No, for now. Apparently, Pitt's mobilizing his troops in patterns I have yet to discover." He was silent for a moment. "Have you heard from the master?"

The question startled them both. "Should we have?"

"Well, he mentioned that his journey wouldn't take more than two and a half months. That lapse was over two days ago, and he is not usually late for anything."

"Yes, that's something. I don't think anything could have delayed him…"

"I talked to him in the morning."

"What?" Helang and Byte asked quite surprised. "What did he say?"

"Well, I was trying to get my fur-color change to work, but it wasn't working. After several attempts and with frustration all over me, I told myself I couldn't do it, you'll imagine how he intervened as soon as I said that; he motivated me enough for me to master it. He also warned me that things are going to get more complicated." Mega felt good knowing that they both were listening. Despite being older than his sister, she was more mature and serious, and Helang was the leader, so they didn't always pay enough attention of heeded to his ideas or plans. However, it was him the one who gave the team some joy, either with one of his bad jokes or simply his smile. He didn't know why all of this was going through his mind, but he didn't care either.

"Did you see him?" Byte finally asked.

"I didn't; just heard his voice in my mind." He answered, feeling more cheerful than usual.

"I don't know what any of this means. But time's gone, and it's almost noon. Mega, can you use your hyper speed?"

"I think not. I'm still pretty tired after playing with my fur." The wolf dropped back onto the floor.

"I'll go, then, and bring them here." Byte confirmed. "I won't be long." She stood in combat position and closed her eyes. A moment later, she opened them and began to run at an incredible speed for anyone, but nothing out of the ordinary for her two companions.

"Give her in twenty minutes. If she arrives exactly at noon, they'll have a free way back." Helang prepared to take flight. "I'll be on patrol while you're still resting." And he flew away.

In the meantime, Bolt was still under the tree.

Bolt's P.O.V.

 _I really don't know what's next. First, there's this thing of shadows and training; I have no idea how big or dangerous can it be. I'm worried about my friends, I don't want anything to happen to them, and I'm not sure why Mega said it was good and bad that they were going to know about this. After that, there is what I feel for Mittens; I think she was going to tell me the same thing yesterday, but I don't know how to take the first step, what to say, what to do when I'm with her._ "Bolt?"

I got a little startled when I heard her; I was too deep in my thoughts, but her voice always calmed me down. "Hi, Mittens."

She was silent for a moment. "May I?" I stepped aside for her to lie down next to me, it was a comforting feeling. For a moment, I forgot all of the trouble that had been in my mind for the last half hour. "What are you thinking about?"

"I… in a little bit of everything. I'm really worried to put you in danger."

Mittens laid her head on my chest, every time she does I feel like I am protecting her, like she is under my care, I feel good. "You told me everything was going to be all right. Now it's my turn to tell you." She took a deep breath and said it: "Everything's going to be all right, Bolt."

I had certainly told her that, but with an air of reassurance. For all what I knew, and what I didn't, this could be much bigger than I think. Even so, it made me feel better to hear her say it. "Thanks, Mittens." I gave her a smile.

 _"Bolt, Bolt are you there?"_ It was Byte's voice.

 _Byte, is it you?_

 _"Yes it is; I need you to bring Mittens and Rhino to the barn and wait for mw there."_

I was quite impressed by her request. _What, now? Are we going to tell them everything?_

 _"Not quite. I need you to be ready, I'll arrive close to noon so we find no trouble on our way back."_

"Alright."

Mittens moved her head from my chest. "Alright?"

"Yeah, come on, Mittens, we need to find Rhino." I got up and she did the same. "If what they told me is true, today they'll tell you what they told me." I was really excited of the idea of no longer having to hide anything from my friends. But I was still worried that they would be in danger. I should talk to Mega about that.

"What do you mean?"

"Before noon we have to be in the barn, the three of us." I headed for the house, Mittens following me. Once inside, I saw Rhino watching a horror movie. "Rhino, I need you to come with us."

Contrary to what I imagined, he turned off the television and got off the couch. "Of course, Bolt." He came towards us, but I couldn't describe the expression on his face. "May I ask what for?"

"It's about time we know what's really going on." I told him firmly, though I was not sure if it was the right thing to do. "We have to go to the barn."

The three of us left the house towards the barn, not in a hurry. Once there, I noticed the door ajar. I finished opening it and saw Byte inside the barn, her back towards us. "Hi, guys. Are you ready?" She asked without even turning.

I noticed that both were confused, so I made a gesture with my paw. "Trust me, she's a friend. She'll take us to the forest." I explained in a low voice. They both nodded, though I noticed doubt in Mittens' expression.

"If you are, we'll leave immediately." She stood up and turned.

I turned to see my friends. They both nodded slightly. "We're ready."

"Well, then, come on." She bent down for us to get on her back.

"Are you not going to introduce us, Bolt?" Now Mittens had something, I could tell by her tone; but I don't know what, if she was fine just ten minutes ago.

I was about to answer, but Byte came forward. "There will be time for presentations at camp. We have to leave now, or we could find problems on the way. Hold on tight."

None of us said anything; we just got on her back and did as she told us. Before having a chance to ask, Byte closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Seconds later, we were running at an impressive speed, not even able to see clearly where we were going to; but I imagined we would get to the camp quickly.

Mittens' P.O.V.

We'd been holding on to _her_ for a couple of minutes as we went towards who knows where. Despite accepting whatever I had accepted, I did so only because Bolt asked me to. When we saw her in the barn, I was frightened to see an imposing wolf; when Bolt mentioned that she was his friend, I felt a slight pain in my chest; when I recognized her scent, I felt bad. I think I'm jealous, but I don't know what to do about that. Come on, I don't know anything about her, not even her name! She's really making me nervous. Despite the speed, I could see that there were no more houses, and trees were beginning to be seen. We were definitely in the woods. After that, it only took about half a minute before we stopped. She bent down and we all got off her back; in spite of the distance and the speed we had traveled, she didn't seem tired at all. Then she finally spoke. "Well, I think we can now start with the presentations. My name…"

A howl interrupted her and another wolf just like her, only a little bit taller and with a darker bluish coat, appeared. "I see you're back." He said with a childish smile.

"And I see you recovered your energy."

Moments later I saw someone who I didn't think I would ever see again, perched on a branch. "Excellent, they're here."

I could not help asking. "Helang?"

"Hi there." He smiled at me.

"You know each other?" Bolt intervened.

"Yes, well…"

"Let's organize things a bit." The wolf commanded. "My name is Mega, and she is Byte." He added, pointing to the other wolf. "We are brothers."

"As Mittens said, my name's Helang." He bowed.

Rhino began to speak. "I'm…"

"Rhino," Mega interrupted. "And you're Mittens." He said, looking me in the eye.

"How do you know our names?" The rodent asked again.

"We know a lot," Byte replied. "After all, we were ordered to take care of you."

"Are you the good guys?" He asked once more.

Mega spoke up again. "Good and bad are points of view. When someone asserts that something is good, it is usually from their perspective. That's why the world is often in chaos. People let themselves be carried away by what they judge to be good, and don't open their minds to consider the other's point of view."

"Then which side are you on? How do we know that supporting you is right?"

"That's a good question, Rhino." The wolf continued. "In the end it's your decision. But I can tell you that we are on the side of life, on the side of peace. We are struggling to avoid many human an animal losses, trying to avoid them suffering and pain." Contrary to the childish and even silly smile he'd had during that time, he gave a serious expression as he spoke.

His words shocked me, and I think they also Bolt and Rhino too, because neither of the said anything else.

"Well, if there are no more doubts, I think it's time to bring them up to date." Helang said, apparently he was the leader of the three.

"We'll start from the beginning."

"Mega, can I talk to you for a second?" Bolt asked the wolf.

"I know what it is. We'll talk about it later."

"Thanks."

"Okay, now," Helang spoke again. "Time for you to know what you're getting into." Something gave me a bad feeling.

* * *

 **"What? That's it? What about the explanations?"  
**

 **"Man, you've got to pay 15.99 to get the premium version... Told you it was a bad idea."**

 **Actually, explanations come in for the next chapter, but I like leaving cliffhangers here and there. Next chapter's title will no doubt be "Surprises" and yes, it'll have some of those. Anyway, once more thanks to everyone for reading, special ones to Basbon and starfiction123 for their reviews, next chapter as soon as I can, and got nothing more to say. Nos vemos luego.**


	10. Surprises

Chapter 10: Surprises

The hawk spent a few seconds organizing his ideas, seconds that seemed like hours to the three pets. Finally, he spoke again.

"Okay, we'll start with what they have already heard. Mega already explained the shadows to you, Bolt. And I believe you explained it to your friends." Bolt nodded. "Okay, but that's just the tip of the iceberg." Helang took a deep breath. "Shadows live on negative emotions. They are born in places where fear, anger or doubt predominates. Once they're created, they are directed to the greatest concentration of negative energy they encounter, or to some place where they are being called. That's what the organization we are fighting does; it implants those emotions in living beings. But it doesn't end there. In addition of being born, they feed and gain strength from those emotions. That's why they focus so much on making suffer anyone who crosses their path." The expression on his face was becoming more serious as he spoke. "The fact is that, although there will always be someone in the world who is afraid, angry or doubtful, they are not satisfied with the energy that those emotions generate naturally; they want more, even if they have to make cities or even countries suffer to achieve it."

"Then why has nobody here been attacked beside us?" Bolt asked.

The three of them felt silent and looked at each other. Al last, Helang spoke again. "Tell them; sooner or later they'll find out anyway."

"I'll do it." Mega took the floor. "But first, let me explain a little about our abilities." He took a deep breath. "Surely you have noticed that we know how to do 'exceptional things' that are not common to see. Now, we were not modified in any way to develop our abilities." He said, looking sideways at Rhino. "Our abilities are born of the energy we use, energy that we have learned to absorb from the environment. Knowing how to take advantage of this has allowed us to reduce our basic needs, like eating, drinking, sleeping, and even breathing under some circumstances. To activate them we use the spark of life, a spark of light in our case, of shadow in their case; the brighter the light, the darker the shadow, the more powerful the skills that the user will be able to put into practice. Our current skills required time and dedication to get to the point they have now. What does this have to do with your question? Well, as life, nature and the universe itself, are always looking for balance, when something begins to move the natural equilibrium, an opposite response is generated to bring it back to normal. Because they cause suffering in large numbers, the answer to keep things balanced is what we call the pillar of light. The pillar of light is a pure entity of heart and soul, noble, brave, kind; capable of giving everything for its loved ones. This entity will be able to take full advantage of the powers opposing the shadow emotions; friendships, happiness, peace, love. Using this power, it will be able to stop the actions of the shadows and return things to a state of balance." Mega stopped and gave the floor to his sister.

"Every time they try to do something on large scale, a pillar of light arises; he or she, young or old, human, animal, and sometimes even a plant. If they meet the requirements, without realizing it, from one day to another they'll get the skill. A light brighter than any other, capable of illuminating everything; well trained, the pillar will do anything it proposes to do. A well-trained pillar is the biggest threat they can face. That's why, before beginning their plans in any place, they are given the task to search and hunt any pillar of light that emerges; we also look for them, but to train them and polish their skills." The wolf took a deep breath. "We have reasons to believe, and think them too, that you're the pillar of light, Bolt."

There was silence for several minutes; none of them expected such revelation. The wild three simply gave them time to organize their thoughts. Bolt was surprised by it, for sure; Mittens seemed worried for her canine friend; Rhino, he was quite excited.

"That's why you started to train me," The dog finally said to Mega. "To stop the darkness, right?"

"That's right." The wolf answered. "Even if they're only suspicions, you fulfill the characteristics of a pillar of light. However, they won't wait to be sure and just eliminate any suspect. That's why they started attacking you. It is worth mentioning that even if you were not the pillar, it is always possible to develop supernatural abilities, as long as you have the dedication and patience; so, we brought you three, we also want to offer Mittens and Rhino the opportunity to train, but the decision is yours.

"I'm in!" Rhino almost shouted at once. "If we are going to face the darkness and save the world, count me in." He said as he made a heroic pose.

"I've already started, and I won't take a step back. If they want to harm someone, they'll have to step over me." Bolt looked determined.

"I also… I want to participate." Though she had her doubts, Mittens wanted to have the opportunity to take care of Bolt, just like he had taken care of her.

"Alright, we'll start tomorrow, it was enough with everything we told you, and it's already getting late…"

"Actually, it's barely three o'clock, Byte. Besides, Bolt wanted to talk, right?" He nodded to the hawk. "I think I can help you with that. Come with me." Then the hawk and the dog flew and walked away, respectively.

"Rhino, I want to know you better. Do you mind if we talk?"

"Not at all. Mega, right? Of course, it'll be a pleasure to tell you about me." Rhino climbed to Mega's back, and they went in another direction, leaving Byte alone with Mittens. The cat took the opportunity to clarify some things with the wolf.

"So, Byte…" She started uncertainly.

"Yes, Mittens? What is it?" The wolf was perfectly aware of her sentimental situation, but she had decided not to interfere, to help or to hinder them.

"What do you think about Bolt?"

 _That's subtle._ "Well, I think he's a very noble dog, no doubt he could be the pillar of light. He's brave, he's honest, he's…"

"He is mine." Mittens interrupted. When she realized what she had said, she covered her mouth with her paws and blushed a lot.

The wolf began to laugh at the scene. After a few seconds, she spoke again. "Mittens, I have no such interest in Bolt. I rather see him as a friend, even though we've known each other only for a few days." She smiled at Mittens. "But you should hurry to tell him what you feel, although I'm pretty sure he feels the same, he could meet a dog that may get his attention."

"But besides you and us, Alpha, Delta and Kass are our only other friends. And Alpha is not yet an adult."

"But things change. Maybe in a month, or a year; maybe tomorrow. And you don't know what could happen."

Mittens thought for a while, Byte was right, things could change at any moment. "You're right, Byte, I must tell him. But I don't know how; yesterday I was going to do it, but that shadow ruined the moment."

"That's for you to solve, I won't place my paws in there."

"Thanks, Byte."

Meanwhile, Helang was engaging in a conversation with Bolt. The dog was talking about his nightmare.

"So I went to save her, but when I almost reached her I heard another cry; I turned and saw Penny, in the exact same situation as Mittens. It was one or the other; I would not have time to save them both. After that I woke up, but I didn't hear ant shadows with sarcastic comments in the nightmare."

The hawk looked worried. "That was not a nightmare, Bolt. As you described it, I would say it was a premonition. Possibly, and I hope not, you'll have to choose between Mittens and Penny. However, consider that you're going to train, and that you have our support. If you turn out to be the pillar, you'll be able to do anything, including saving both of them, regardless of the circumstances." Helang forced a smile to calm Bolt a little, however worried that something like that could happen in the end.

"Thanks, Helang." Bolt began to walk back to Mittens and Byte.

"Wait, Bolt." He halted. "There's one more thing that you should know, more than your friends."

"What is it?"

"Whether you are or not the pillar, you have a very strong light within you. Throughout this 'adventure' that we'll have, we will face animals that have fallen prisoners of the shadows." The falcon noticed Bolt was going to ask. "Let me explain. Not everyone is as resistant to the dark as you three are; many humans and animals, even some plants, give in to the blackmail of the shadows, commonly due to situations of their past that caused them pain and suffering. When that happens, the guest doesn't know that he has a shadow lodged inside him, while it, like a virus, begins to progress within the mind of the host body. Meanwhile, the guest begins to behave aggressively, manipulative and so, without knowing why. The longer they spent together, the more the shadow gets rooted to the guest's mind, and it becomes more and more difficult to separate them. If too much time passes, both minds merge and he becomes a being of darkness. Whoever it was before ceases to exist and the shadow takes total control of the body. The only way to stop this process is to let the guest feel affection again. Let it feel love, friendship, joy. In that way, the shadow won't be able to root and gets separated from the guest's mind. Depending on how long it was rooted, the guest will remember or not his actions under the shadow's influence."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want you to understand that when you find someone like that, you should treat them like your friends, so that they end up being so."

Bolt stood thinking for a moment. "Sure, I will." And they headed back to the girls.

In the meantime, Mega and Rhino were having their own conversation. The hamster liked the idea of talking to a superhero of some kind.

"What would your favorite superpower be?" He asked excitedly.

"The elemental sphere, no doubt." He responded almost as excitedly as Rhino.

"Can I see that? How does it work?"

"Sorry, Rhino, but it takes a lot of energy and I have to be much focused. But I can show you the fur-color change. It's the last thing I learned."

The hamster got more excited. "Can I see that, please?"

Mega closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and opened them. The wolf had a coat now colored just like Rhino's.

"That was be-awesome! Can you do it with any color?"

"Any color and tone, in any combination possible."

"Be-awesome! I wish I could do that. And have Bolt's superpowers. And change my size."

"Why would you want to do that?" Mega returned his fur to its original tone.

"Well, actually, sometimes they ignore me, or they don't listen to my ideas, not only because of my size, but because, I assume, they think I spend a lot of time in front of the magic box. Sometimes I would like to grow to be seen, so that they would pay me attention."

"Same situation, different shape. You know, they also sometimes don't listen to me; I'm the immature of the group, despite being older than Byte. But even so, I know I can count on them, just as they can count on me; because in the end, we are a team, a family. You size is not defined from the ground to your head, try to measure it from your chin and to the sky. Seen thus, you're the biggest of us all; and your heart is not far behind: noble and pure. You don't need to be big in order to be a giant." Rhino got to think about the wolf's statement. "I'll later on teach you how to grow your body at will, 'little guy'."

They both talked for a while and then returned to the camp, where everyone was waiting for them.

"Well, you're back." Helang received them. "Can you take them back, Mega?"

"What?"

"Take them home. Look at the sun, my friend." Mega then realized that the sun was setting.

"Sure, I'll take them." He crouched for Bolt and Mittens to climb onto his back. "Ready?"

Bolt looked at his friends, they both nodded. "Ready."

Mega concentrated and then used his hyper speed to take them home. The road was with no complications and in silence. Mega stopped a little while away from the house when he saw a car in it. "Guys, I'll leave you here. I don't think I should come any closer." He crouched down so that everyone would get off his back. "Bolt, you already know. Mittens, Rhino, if you need us, go to the barn and call us; no need to shout, just say our names and we'll arrive soon."

"Thanks, Mega." The three responded in unison.

"You're welcome." And he ran back into the woods.

The three of them began to walk towards the house without haste, until they remembered that Penny had not returned in the morning. Her mom's car was already there, meaning they were back. When they realized it, they began to run until they were in the house. As soon as they entered, they saw Penny sitting on the couch, looking worried. Bolt let out a bark to get her attention.

"Bolt! Mittens! Rhino! You're all fine!" She ran to hug them. "I'm sorry I took so long." Then she pulled away from them and smiled. "And I brought you a new friend." She added before whistling a couple of times.

"What?" The three of them were frozen with the news, especially Mittens. If it turned out to be a girl dog…

Moments later, from the kitchen came running a very nice and pretty border collie, with black and white fur and dark brown eyes. "This is Flor. She's going to stay with us until we find someone to take care of her."

"Hello," She greeted them kindly. "As she said, my name's Flor. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Bolt, she is Mittens, and this is Rhino." The shepherd introduced them.

"Bolt? The Bolt from the series?"

"That same one."

Flor got very excited and started jumping all over the place. "This is great! I always wanted to meet you! Seeing your series was what I liked the most. And I must say that you're even more handsome in person." The dog blushed by the last part of the collie's comment.

"Thanks," He answered somewhat embarrassed.

While that scene took place, Mittens felt her blood boiling. Byte had been right, things were changing. Now she would have to deal with Flor before telling Bolt what she felt, everything was complicating. Meanwhile, Penny was talking to her mother.

"You really don't remember, mom?"

"No, darling, I don't remember anything besides picking up Flor on the way."

"Then I'll have to refresh your mind." Apparently she was going to tell her something about the trip.

"Alright, just let me make some calls before you start."

" _Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, we need you in the barn right now. I know it's not even been half an hour, but it's urgent. And come alone."_ It had been Helang's voice, and it sounded worried.

Flor kept playing all over the house, but when she saw the three of them heading for the garden, she ran to catch up. "Where are you going? Bolt?"

"Um... we're going to check something, something we have between the three of us. But we won't be long; can you wait for us here?"

"Sure. I'll eat meanwhile, I had not eaten in days, you know." Bolt was struck by that last comment, but Mittens was already calling from outside, so he hurried.

The three of them ran to the barn, and found the other three inside. All of them were sitting, Mega and Byte on the floor and Helang on a beam.

"Hello, guys." The hawk spoke for the three.

"What happened? Why did you call us?" Bolt asked in behalf of the three pets, it seemed like he was equivalent for Helang, speaking for them. Like their leader.

"We don't know," Byte interjected. "He asked us to call you and for us to be all together."

As soon as she finished her sentence, a faint stream of air became present. Then everyone heard the same voice. _"Hello everyone."_

"Master!" The three wild animals exclaimed, startled to hear his voice, though Mega a little less than his brothers.

" _I called you to gather because I have some important news and a couple advices."_ There was a slight pause. _"Mega, Byte, Helang, you have to know that I no longer form part of the living world."_

"What? What happened?" Mega asked.

 _"My time came, as yours will come one day. I will tell you how I left this world, but first I have some things to do. Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, I did not have the pleasure to meet you in person, but I want you to know that you have my support. Anything, anytime, just call me."_

Once again, Bolt spoke for the three. "How can we call you? What's your name?"

" _I no longer have a name, for I'm a soul in peace."_ Another small silence. _"Soul. You can call me Soul; when you need my help, think in that word."_ Bolt nodded, not sure if he could see that.

 _"Now, Mega, Byte, Helang, I want to tell you something. I was never a person of words, and consequently you were not either; but I want you to know you were always more than my students. You were my friends, my brothers, my family, my children. And I will always look after you here. What I told Bolt and his friends also applies to you."_

"But we'll always call you master." Byte said in a broken voice.

 _"Don't be sad. Dying is a natural part of life; when it's your time, there's nothing you can do, and when it's not, either. It is valid to be sad and cry for a while, but not too much, or you'll drown."_

Helang, like the wolves, had tears in his eyes; some began to trickle down to his cheeks, only a few. "Can you tell us how your life ended?"

" _With a condition: do not get angry. It will not take you anywhere."_ Mega, Byte and Helang nodded. Bolt, Mittens and Rhino headed for the exit, but Soul stopped them. _"I think you should hear this too. After all, I gave my life for someone you esteem a lot, her name is Penny."_

"What!?" They all shouted at the same time.

" _Let me explain."_

Meanwhile, inside the house, Penny was about to tell her mom something that had happened in the way of their recent trip. "Are you sure you don't remember anything mom? Nothing at all?"

"I don't, darling, I was tired. Maybe if you tell me, I'll remember something."

"Alright, I'll tell you everything that happened."

* * *

 **Here it is, chapter 10! Next chapter comes to be a second flashback, with two P.O.V.s that have not yet been used here. And, you may see, the romance thing is going to get a little bit complicated. Anyway, usual thanks, thanks for reading, for reviewing, and so on. Next chapter as soon as I can. Nos vemos luego.  
**


	11. (Fb) One life in exchange for another

Chapter 11: (Flashback) One life in exchange for another

Penny's P.O.V.

We were in the car, on our way home. We had not been back the day before because of an unforeseen event that arose at the house of the cousins we were visiting. It was very early, about four-thirty in the morning. Mom had insisted on leaving early to make up for the lost time; half an hour earlier we had noticed something, a little dog lying by the side of the road. We stopped to pick her up, a very pretty, black and white border collie. She had some wounds; apparently she had fought another dog. With the medicine cabinet we had in the car we healed her wounds, and we took her with us. I already had a surprise for Bolt, Mittens and Rhino: a new friend.

I was beginning to fall asleep when I noticed something that caught my eye. Through the rearview mirror I saw some shadows following us, but I could not see what was producing the shadows. "Mom, can you go faster?" I asked as calmly as I could.

"Why, darling?"

"I think someone's following us."

My mom looked through the mirror and found out it was true. With a concerned expression, she began to accelerate, as did those who followed us. After about fifteen minutes of trying to lose them, a tire struck, forcing us to step aside. I looked back and saw the shadows coming closer. We both began to worry, but before they got any closer, I saw another figure approaching the car, from the front of it. The stranger was hooded and I brought with him a wooden staff of his height; I couldn't see his face. He walked to where the car was and knocked on the window, like he wanted us to lower it. At first I had my doubts, but for some reason, it inspired me confidence.

"Lower the window, mom."

"Why? What if he tries something?"

"Trust me. I think he wants to help us."

My mom hesitated a little, but finally nodded and lowered the glass. As soon as she did, the stranger spoke. "Don't worry, I won't harm you. I'm going to distract them and in the meantime, I want you to get out of the car and change that flat tire as fast as you can." His words were firm but soft. "When you're done, get away from here." I was about to ask him something, but he got ahead of me. "My name does not matter; and don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Then he began walking in the direction of those following us, but he stopped after a few steps and returned to the window. "I think you should take care of Flor until you find someone else to receive her at home." At first I didn't understand that. Then I remembered the dog. Flor sounded like a cute name for her; and I would definitely do as he had asked me. I don't know why, but his words really inspired confidence.

The stranger began walking once more. When he was at considerable distance, we both got out of the car as fast as we could and went to the trunk to get the spare tire along with the tools. Ten minutes later everything was ready, so we packed up and got into the car. I was worried about that stranger, because only seconds after losing sight of him, we began to hear noises of blows and cries of pain, which meant that he was facing our pursuers, and without even knowing us. I considered for a moment going for him, but I remembered what he had said, so I just kept quiet as my mom started the car and we began to move. I kept thinking about what happened until I fell asleep.

When I woke up, it was daytime, and we were quite close to home. We stopped to change Flor's bandages, but she already looked fine, no traces of being injured, so we just left her like that. We also stopped for breakfast at a nearby restaurant and then kept going. I was surprised to see that mom was very calm, despite what had happened. She seemed to remember nothing of it, so I decided I would ask about it later.

Soul's P.O.V.

It was weird; I knew I would never see them again. I would have liked to say goodbye to them, but the circumstances were different. At the moment I was sitting on a rock near the edge of the road as dawn was approaching. I did not know why, but something called me to stay there, waiting.

After a while I heard a car stop in the vicinity, I guess that's why I had to stay there. I got up and took my staff. Already walking I could see a car with three entities inside. Surprisingly, these were the two persons who were taking care of the potential pillar. They were accompanied by Flor, whom I had not seen in a long time.

As I approached the car, I began to perceive darkness entities approaching from the other side. That's when I understood the situation. I approached the driver's window and knocked on it; I could see fear in the face of both of them, but still I noticed the girl convincing her mother to lower the glass. When she did, I spoke softly. "Don't worry, I won't harm you. I'm going to distract them and in the meantime, I want you to get out of the car and change that flat tire as fast as you can. When you're done, get away from here." I noticed Penny was going to ask, so I answered beforehand. "My name does not matter; and don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

I started to move forward, but I remembered something else and went back. "I think you should take care of Flor until you find someone else to receive her at home." Then I started walking again. That last advice was born from the sentimental situation that two of her pets had at home. If Flor was still working for Pitt, being with Bolt could help her redeem herself; but it is possible that a love triangle is formed, and that would only complicate things.

I focused on what I was doing, I was already quite far from the car and I could see the shadows perfectly, there were at least ten or fifteen. Being close enough, I set my staff on light at both ends, to help me a little with the shadows. After observing them a little, I came to conclude they were a hunting squadron.

"Good evening, gentlemen." Despite knowing that they would attack, a little bit of humor is always fine.

The leader spoke first. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? It seems that someone wants to protect the ladies." Its cynical and sarcastic tone almost made me laugh.

"That's correct, gentlemen. But I will give you the opportunity to retire." And I waved my hand in the most exaggeratedly gentle way I found.

The shadows began lo laugh like maniacs. When the calmed down, the leader gave them an order. "Kill him."

The shadows began to get too close, so I grabbed my staff from the middle to use both ends to help me. The first few times I just hit them at their stomach or head, trying to stun them. I never liked killing, even if they were shadows; however, they began to pile up and I had to get rid of some of them, a well-lighted blow directly to where they would have a heart or a brain was deadly to them. I used the staff to support me, as I also hit them with my hands and feet.

Slowly, the number of my opponents was diminishing as I tried to keep on using and absorbing energy at a time, for I was occupying a shield a few inches thick attached to my skin made of energy that repelled any attacks, but its constant use spend too much energy. In the end I had to leave it, if I had used it any longer, I would have fallen unconscious. From then on, any blow I couldn't avoid or intercept would hurt me.

After ten minutes of giving and receiving damage, I heard in the distance the engine of the car being turned on; then I knew it was time. I took the staff and threw it, one end straight to the leader's chest, so fast that it couldn't do anything, and leaving my tool nailed to the target and killing it after a few seconds of agony. Its subordinates raged and the next thing I felt was a cold, dry blade piercing my chest from behind. I looked down and found it was a dark sword, and although I could've come out of it, and was immune to the suffering it caused, I did nothing about it. My time had come. I let it pull the sword out of me and fell to my knees, a smile on my face. I was about to die, but I had a full and happy life; I was able to raise three little ones that I ended loving like my family. I had also used my last minutes doing what I was meant to.

Already on the ground, I assumed that I would die slowly, courtesy of that dark sword that had crossed through me, for these swords are meant to cause suffering by leaving the target alive, creating a slow and painful death, in order to absorb that energy for them. But I was happy. I could hear the shadows discuss whether they should go looking for the car, or just go back to their base. My joy increased a little more when I heard them say that it would be a waste of time for the distance they would have gone by then.

Once the shadows were gone, I used what I had left of energy to erase the memory of any living being that was awake inside the car I touched. If Penny had fallen asleep it did not matter; but it's imperative that this does not reach the ears of adults. They would panic, call the police or the army, and it would be no use, they would only be helping them. With an incomprehensible peace, I closed my eyes and left the living world with a smile on my face.

* * *

 **And this is it. Second flashback for this story, and I'm telling you, yes, the shadows were after Penny, and yes, she's not out of this big mess. You'll see, when the time comes, heh. Next chapter comes as soon as I can, it goes on with the base story, and so. Another little note, just for you to know, this "nos vemos luego" I use, just stands for "See you later" in spanish. Anyway, thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing, and nos vemos luego!**


	12. Complications

Chapter 12: Complications

Everyone in the barn was quite impressed by Soul's story, especially his three kids.

"Master, but… why…?"

 _"I did not defend myself after the car had started? Helang, it is important for you to understand that we do not decide how much time we spend here, but we can decide what to do with it. My time was that, if they didn't kill me, something else would have before I arrived here."_

The hawk kept silent and wiped a tear with his claw. Mega and Byte had stopped crying, but still looked sad.

"Master," Mega began. "Is it true that after leaving this world you acquire knowledge beyond imagination?"

 _"That is quite right, Mega. After dying I found a lot of peace, and a lot of knowledge with it. I can answer practically any question, but that doesn't mean I will. There are things that you must discover or do on your own."_

Byte deduced where was her brother going with that. "Could you tell us who the pillar is? Is it Bolt?"

For some seconds there was no response. When everyone thought that Soul was gone, he spoke again. _"No, I cannot answer that question. However, I assure you that the pillar is among you three."_ He referred to Bolt, Mittens and Rhino.

"That means that even if Bolt wasn't the pillar, one of his two friends would be." Helang pointed out. "So we did well to bring them up and offer them to train."

" _Yes, but now I think you should let them rest. They had a day full of surprises and emotions."_ The three pets were already leaving the barn, but Soul stopped the last before he left. _"Bolt."_

"Yes?" The dog reentered the barn.

 _"There is something you should know. Your new friend has a shadow in her mind, and it's not her fault. As Helang explained to you, in order to free her, you must treat her with affection, treat her well. Do not mention it to her, or she will begin to act aggressively. Let the shadow believe that you know nothing, just behave normally."_

"But then why do you tell me this?"

 _"Because she will probably try to separate you from your friends, especially from Mittens. Try not to respond aggressively to that, and teach her how to do the same."_

"Thank you, Soul. That's what I'll do." He turned to the trio of wild animals. "See you, guys."

"Goodbye." They responded at the same time with no emotion.

Bolt left the barn and headed for the house. Inside, he saw that Penny was telling a story to her mother, though by her expression, she did not believe much of it.

"Hi, Bolt," Flor said cheerfully. "What were you three doing out there?"

 _Okay, concentrate and be kind_. "Nothing, Flor, it's something we have between us. Maybe we'll show you later." Then he came up with an idea. "Would you like to play for a while before going to sleep?"

The dog's face brightened at such proposal. "Of course, I love playing!"

"Okay," Bolt smiled. "Then… try to catch me!" And he ran out the dog door with the Border collie behind him.

While both dogs played in the garden, being washed by moonlight, a cat was watching the scene from the window in Penny's room. "Why did he go out and play with her?"

"It was Bolt who asked Flor if she wanted to. What's wrong with that?"

Mittens got startled by the answer. "Rhino! You scared me!"

"Sorry. But back to the previous topic, what's wrong with Bolt playing with Flor?"

"Nothing." She snapped.

"Yeah, sure. And my name is probably Fred." The hamster approached Mittens. "Come on, something's wrong with you; tell me what it is, maybe I can help."

The cat was getting fed up with Rhino's attitude. "How could you help me? What do you know about love?"

"Love, huh? Well, I may not know much, but…" Finally, after having breaking his head for quite some time, the hamster was able to put two and two together. "You're in love with Bolt! How could I ever miss that?"

"If you want to, shout it from the roof, rodent. Yes, I'm in love with him…"

Rhino interrupted her. "And he is in love with you!"

"What?" That had surprised her a lot, though she had heard Mega mention it before. "Do you think he loves me, too?"

"Oh, come on, cat. It's one of those things you can't see at first, but when you finally do, you can't stop seeing them. In fact, even someone blind would see it." _Funny that I didn't._

"But he's out playing with her." Mittens said, being rather pessimistic for some reason.

"With Flor? Come on, Mittens, he met her like an hour ago." Rhino's face turned serious. "Do you really think she's going to take him away like that? I mean, you showed him the real world, and accompanied him from New York to here. That's quite something."

Rhino's words made her realize that she was exaggerating things. "You're right. Thanks rodent."

"Don't mention it, cat." And the hamster went to sleep.

Mittens stared at the moon for a while. Many emotions and thoughts passed through her mind, although she was quite certain that what Rhino had said was true, and wanted to believe that her love was accepted and returned, she still had many doubts. When she looked back at the garden she didn't see any of the dogs, so she went down to the first floor. When she arrived, to her displeasure, she could see how Flor was kissing Bolt on the cheek, leaving him flushed.

"Thanks again, Bolt." She said in a sweet tone.

"You… you're welcome," He replied, still flushed.

Then Flor made her way upstairs, leaving Bolt and Mittens alone. She couldn't stand it and asked, "What was that?" in an annoyed tone.

"What was what?" She really couldn't tell if Bolt was faking, or he didn't actually knew or understood what had happened.

"Why did she kiss you?"

"I wanted to ask you the same thing." He said, leaving her confused. "Why did she do that to me? I just offered her my friendship."

Then Mittens realized that Bolt still didn't know about samples of affection. "It was a show of affection, Bolt, a way of thanking you for what you did."

"Penny does it sometimes, but in my forehead. Is it the same?"

Anger was quickly removed when she recalled that Bolt was still quite innocent. "No, it's not. There are many kinds of kisses. Most are given in the cheek to express affection or gratitude, usually to a family member or a friend, normally from a boy to a girl, or from a girl to another. A kiss on the forehead also represents affection, and a desire to protect someone." Then Mittens began to blush. "Like the one you gave me a few days ago. Some other kisses are given on the lips; but that's the maximum sample of affection, you can only kiss that way… your girlfriend or your mate."

Now both were blushing, Bolt seemed to be arranging his head, while Mittens tried to gather courage to tell him what she felt at that moment.

"Thanks, Mittens." He finally said, coming to her side and licking her cheek, making her even more flushed. Then Bolt went upstairs, while Mittens continued to think.

A few minutes later, she went upstairs, too, to find Bolt talking to Flor. Apparently they were deciding where she would sleep. "Maybe, with you," she was saying in a coquettish voice, making Bolt blush a little, as the cat walked in.

Mittens was determined to stop that from happening, at any cost. "I don't think that's necessary. You can sleep on my mattress, Flor."

"Really? Thank you, Mittens." She looked rather cheerful, but then she stopped and thought. "But… where will you sleep?"

"Don't worry about it. I've been sleeping with Bolt, so my mattress is unused."

The Border collie placed on a look of annoyance after Mittens' last statement, then went to the mattress and lay down. "Good night." She said, glaring at Mittens.

Bolt threw himself on his bed and waited for Mittens to lie down next to him to embrace her. "Good night, girls." He said before closing his eyes.

"Goodnight, Bolt." Mittens replied, but before closing her own, she gave Flor a quick look. She was leaning over the bed, giving her a furtive glance. After a few minutes, everyone on the house was asleep.

Meanwhile, in the forest, Mega was running at common speeds to encounter someone. He paused as he found a shadow cast among the trees. "If violets are blue…" He began.

"Then why not call them 'blues' instead?" The shadow finished the sentence.

The wolf was reassured by the answer, apparently the code. "What did you bring me now?"

The shadow lifted and walked to Mega. "These are some of the plans for mobility and distribution of his troops." It handed the wolf some papers. "And Pitt assigned me and Flor to bend him."

"Yes, I already knew that part." He sighed before continuing. "They don't suspect anything?"

"Not that I know."

"Make sure it keeps like that; don't give them grounds to check you. If they discover you don't have one in your mind…"

"I know. But you've known me since I was a puppy, you know that won't happen."

"Still, be careful; I still see you as my daughter."

"And I still see you as my father. They won't find out, and when the time comes, the pillar will stop them."

"Yes, it will. Still, take care, please."

"Just as I've always done." And the shadow ran away.

Mega looked in that direction even after losing sight of her. He thought for a few minutes before taking the papers and returning to camp. When he arrived, he saw Byte working on her fur-color change, with Helang at her side, giving her instructions.

"Guys, I bring you information and some news." He was wearing his classic childish smile.

"Information of what? Who gave it to you?" His sister asked.

"Alexander the great." He answered sarcastically. "Who would it be?"

"It was Beta," Helang said as Byte grimaced at her brother. "Did she get the papers?"

"Affirmative." The wolf gave the papers to the falcon.

"Excellent. With this we're one step ahead of them in patrols, hiding places, ammunition depots, shadow generators…" The hawk was watching each of the papers, reading what information they contained.

"Is there anything I don't know about?"

"Nope, just that I agreed to meet Beta today in the forest to get some information."

"And the fact that we are going on a mission." Helang added.

Both wolves turned to him, surprised. "What?"

"I just read in one of these," He pointed to the papers "that they will be mobilizing negative energy from one of their warehouses to another, while they give the first one some maintenance. If that's true, we will have free road to get rid of the energy that's being moved before it arrives to its destination. Then we can take an advantage of the distraction that will cause, and attack the warehouses, too." The falcon was quick to make plans.

"Sounds good, but what about Bolt and his friends?"

"They'll be fine, Byte; you heard the master, the pillar is among them three. In addition, he has already managed to defeat a shadow."

"Yeah, ONE shadow, and a common one; if several hunting or elite try to get him…"

"He'll call us and I'll go at hyper speed to help him." Mega interrupted. "Hey, Helang, how do they store the negative energy they produce?" The wolf had finished discussing Bolt's security.

"In crystals," He answered seriously. "The storage capability of a crystal is amazing; a small one can store thousands of terabytes. But instead of storing information they use them to store negative energy. It doesn't even matter what kind of crystal, provided it's natural. You know they're loaded with energy if they shine in dark tones, and just have to break them to get rid of the energy.

"Okay, so now…"

"We'll be outside for a few days," Helang declared. "Tell them to take those days off, though they'll probably start training on their own. And that they can call us if there are problems."

"Okay." The wolves answered in unison.

Meanwhile at Penny's house everyone was asleep, but that didn't mean they were safe.

Bolt's P.O.V.

Once again I was dreaming, I was at home with my friends, everything was fine until…

"Hello, puppy, did you miss me?" _Great._

"Not really, you're quite annoying. Like a mosquito." I knew it was easily angered, and if it got like that again, I could take control of the situation.

It started to laugh like crazy instead. "You really think I'm going to fall twice, how cute of you." Then it showed itself, looking bigger than last time, stronger as well.

"Well, it was a pleasure to have you back in my head, but I think you're leaving." I closed my eyes to concentrate. But before I could, I heard a couple of voices shouting my name

"Bolt!" Those were Penny's and Mittens' voices. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't help but open my eyes. I was on top of a canyon, each of them tied and ready to fall at any moment into the void. "Mittens! Penny!"

The shadow began to laugh again. "Why don't we have fun before you regain your peace and kick me out of your mind? It works like this: Both are tied, with some lame-quality strings, so they will break soon, letting both of them to fall at the same time. You have a minute to save who you can. Have fun." And vanished in the air.

I quickly analyzed the situation, they were both the same and, because of what it had said, I would only manage to save one. They were too far apart from each other for me to save both. Time was still running and I was farther away from being able to concentrate to force the shadow to leave. "Okay, stop the game. Let them go and I will give myself in."

It again appeared in front of me; apparently it didn't expect that answer. "Explain yourself."

"Simple," I told it. "You took them both and according to time I could only save one, therefore one would have to die. Two of us three survive. I tell you that the two of them are saved and I die in their place." I explained, feeling decided more than anything. Besides, it was a dream, so I would be fine.

"And you would be willing to give your life for theirs?" It asked, shrinking.

"Of course I would. Now let them go."

Both strings broke at once for my horror, but before they hit the ground it held them and placed both slowly on the floor. "Okay, now come here." And it extended its hand towards me.

"Don't do it, Bolt." It was Mittens, her voice really sounding like hers.

"I agreed to do this to see you both safe. I have no choice." I started walking towards the shadow, but she pulled me back.

"No, Bolt. Don't leave me." I could see then some tears beginning to appear in her eyes. "Please." And she hugged me without giving me time to say anything more.

For several seconds I lay still, feeling her fur. However, when I turned around I saw that the shadow had Penny again. I pulled away from Mittens and ran to her. "Penny! Let her go, I told you to take me!"

"But you looked so comfortable, cuddling with your kitten. I don't think that you know what to do." It began to grow again.

As I could, I calmed myself to keep it from growing. "Take me." I repeated.

The shadow lowered Penny as Mittens caught up with me. I was surprised by the synchronicity that both showed at saying, "Don't do it, Bolt."

"Girls, I'm doing this so it won't hurt you. Don't stop me." I hugged them both. I was a little surprised that Penny understood me, but then again it was a dream. When I parted from them, I walked towards the shadow again. I was ready to face anything it had prepared for me, as long as I knew they were alright.

Mittens' P.O.V.

All I could do was watch Bolt walk into the hands of the shadow that would surely make him suffer a lot. He said he did it to protect us, but his voice sounded so real that I came to doubt it was a dream. Penny was standing next to me without saying anything; I was a bit surprised that she understood Bolt, but it was dream, right?

When he was almost with the shadow, Penny lifted me up the floor and began to whisper. "We have to do something, Mittens. If this keeps going, nothing good will come of it."

"I agree," I whispered back. "But what can we do?"

"Nothing." The shadow interrupted. "You will not do anything because the puppy is already in my hands. And the first thing I will do with him is this." Sparks began to come out of the hand with which he was not holding Bolt.

"That's…?"

"Electricity, kitty. We'll see how much your dear dog can endure." And it placed its other hand on Bolt, releasing an electric shock on him. Although I could see that he was making an effort not to scream, probably because he didn't want to worry us, it was evident in his face that he was suffering. The shadow began to laugh like crazy; seeing Bolt suffer was hurting me a lot, so I decided I would stop it.

Without thinking about it, I began to run towards the shadow. "What are you doing, Mittens?" Penny asked me, still standing.

"I don't know!" When I was close enough to the shadow I jumped into its stomach and bit it. The shadow began to squirm in pain and hit me. But at least it was no longer electrocuting Bolt. That relieved me a little, although the blow had been very strong.

Before the shadow tried anything else, I saw Penny approaching it with speed; now that I thought about it, she had no claws or fangs to defend herself. When she reached it she began to try and strike it, the shadow was dodging her easily, but that gave Bolt time to let go of its grip and fall to the floor. With the three of us together again, we moved away from the shadow as it began to grow one more time.

"What do we do?" I asked shakily.

"Calm down," Bolt instructed. "Don't listen to it."

"What? Why?" Penny seemed as confused as I was for Bolt's answer.

"Mittens, they explained to us." Yes, I remembered it was true. "The shadows feed on our negative emotions, if we don't give it fear, anger or doubt to hold on to, it will eventually leave."

"All right." We both said to him.

Then the three of us stopped running and calmed down. Bolt closed his eyes and I did the same. I suppose Penny, too, since the shadow started blackmailing us. "Well, well, well. I go away for a couple days, and suddenly everyone knows how to fight the darkness. But I have one last card to play. Behold the rodent!"

 _Rodent? Oh, no…_

"Let me out of here, you creature of the darkness!" That was definitely Rhino's voice. I opened my eyes and saw him inside a cage with a pink tint. "And it's the last time I'll say it!"

Rhino's P.O.V.

The creature of the darkness was not responding well, I hoped that with 'And it's the last time I say it' it would let me go; however, it just laughed like crazy.

"Rhino, what are you doing here?" That was Bolt's voice.

"Oh, hi, Bolt. Well I was just stopping villains and then out of nowhere I ended up in this Styrofoam cage."

"Styrofoam?"

"Yes, Mittens. In case you don't remember, Styrofoam is the only existing compound that manages to deactivate our powers."

"What is he talking about?"

"Penny? You are here too? Wow, that's just crazy."

"Enough talk." The creature of darkness interrupted. "Time for the little guy to suffer." It began to create an electric charge in its other hand. Before I knew it, I was being electrocuted.

"Rhino!" They yelled at the same time. "Hang on!"

"I'll keep that in mind! Thanks for the advice!" I knew sarcasm wouldn't help, but I had seen it so many times on the magic box that I couldn't help it. Although the shock was hurting, it was not as strong as I imagined it would be. Maybe what they were doing before the creature of darkness brought me out had worked well.

The next thing I knew was being placed on a rocky ledge so that they would not reach me, while in its hands it began to make those dark spheres it had thrown at me the last time. Penny, Bolt and Mittens were running towards it. "Watch those things!" I warned them before it tossed the first one. "Bolt, use your super speed!"

His answered puzzled me. "Rhino, I don't have superpowers!"

"Of course you do! Or don't you remember? You could be a pillar of light, and even if you were not, you're stronger than you want to believe." I saw that he was considering it. "Okay, if you don't believe me, think of it like this: we all are in a dream."

The creature of darkness threw itself at them, with a dark sphere in each hand. Before throwing one, I saw Mittens and Penny getting out of the way, but Bolt closed his eyes. "Bolt…!"

"Don't distract him." I interrupted.

"What are you talking about? If he doesn't move, that thing is going to kill him."

"Shh…"

And just before the dark sphere struck Bolt, he opened his eyes and stepped out of the way at an astonishing speed. "Great! Thank you very much, Rhino."

"That's what friends are for. Now, if it doesn't bother you, I'd appreciate if you could get me out of here."

Penny's P.O.V.

This was undoubtedly one of my craziest dreams. First, I was talking to my pets, and then, two of them had superpowers that they were using to stop a shadow. That's quite something.

"Give me a moment, Rhino." Bolt asked him. "I'm a little busy right now." He was fighting the shadow.

"I'll go." Mittens interjected.

"Okay same principle, cat. You are more capable than you think, and if you weren't, then we are dreaming.

Mittens closed her eyes for a moment, while running. When she opened them, she jumped high enough to reach the cage, and that was about thirty feet off the floor. "Thanks for the inspiration, rodent."

"That's what friends are for." Rhino answered with a smile. "Now get me out of here please."

Mittens extended her claws and destroyed the cage with ease, where did she get the claws? Well, I don't know, when we adopted her she didn't have any.

Once Rhino was free the two of them went running to help Bolt with the shadow.

"I see now that the real game is about to begin." It said, moments before vanishing and laughing.

First and foremost Bolt spoke again. "Calm down, everyone. Don't give it anywhere to hold." And he closed his eyes. Mittens and Rhino imitated him, so I did the same. Slowly I began to feel calm as I listened to the shadow try to blackmail us again.

"Okay, okay. I surrender." I opened my eyes and saw that it was… kneeling? Also, it was rather smaller than before.

"Don't listen to it. They are mostly liars." Bolt said. Who knows where did he learned so much about those shadows.

"You're right, puppy." It smiled again. Something was wrong there. "I see that I cannot beat you. So, I might as well die tonight. But I'm taking you with me!" And it showed us some kind of black bomb with a three-second counter. The bomb activated while the shadow laughed like a maniac. Being a second away from exploding, I heard a familiar voice intervene.

 _"No, you won't."_ Then a light covered everything. Next thing I woke up, pretty agitated.

Once I calmed down, I could see that Bolt, Mittens and Rhino were awake as well, and looked just like me. Did we just dream the same? Where they the ones I saw in the dream, the real ones? Out of doubt, this night came to be the strangest of my life.

* * *

 **Okay, first of all, I'm sorry, I didn't say anything or nothing, but I started school this week, so my writing-translating time went away with homeworks and projects. Besides, some genius in the educational system decided that it would be a brilliant idea to set up the exams for next week, so yeah, I'm, and will be, pretty busy for a couple of weeks. Still, I'll do my best to try and update at least once per week. That set aside... chapter 12, up and going. Now, yes, the four of them "shared" the dream, and that's it, I mean, you'll probably have any doubt answered in the following chapters. So yeah, thanks again for reading, thanks for reviewing and supporting, and thanks for having me patience while I go through this exams period. Anyway, that's about it, nos vemos luego.  
**


	13. New Problems

Chapter 13: New problems

Though it was already late, inside Penny's room, four of the five living beings who were there were awake, for they had apparently shared a dream that had ended with a bomb one second away from exploding just before everything was covered with a light, waking them all four.

Even after several minutes the three animals were still discussing the subject, asking each other questions like "Where did you get the super powers?" "Where did the bomb come from?" "Was it the same shadow?" Penny, though she could not understand them, was just as overwhelmed by the experience. A voice became present in all four minds, for them to stop talking.

" _Okay, first of all, calm down."_

"Soul?" The three asked at the same time. Penny recognized the voice, too, but she didn't know how to address it.

" _Now, that's better._ There was a pause. _"Before anything, yes, the shadow was the same one that had been bothering you; it seems to have gained more power. Then, Rhino once again knew what to say and how to say it. If it were not for his words, things would have gone wrong. Third, Penny, there's much to explain, and little time. In a few minutes I'll explain it to you._

"Soul," Bolt called. "What was that all about?"

" _Well, what you just lived is known as the shared dream; where two or more beings reach the same dream-space. It takes a lot of negative energy to try and bend several beings at once, so the shadow tried in a dream, hoping it would be simpler, and it seemed to be working, which leaves quite clear that it is increasing its strength in some way."_

"What about the bomb?"

" _That bomb is new. In all the time I fought darkness I never saw something like it; they must be developing new weapons. Who knows what it could have done to your minds if it had exploded. Good luck, the pillar stopped it."_

"The pillar!" The three almost screamed at a time. For Penny all this was nothing but barking, mewling, squeaking and the voice of someone whose name she didn't know, in her mind, answering questions she had not asked.

" _Yes, the pillar."_

"But didn't you say that the pillar was between the three of us?" Rhino asked intrigued.

" _Indeed, but that does not mean that it can't act on its own. You see, the pillar is a living light that can accomplish anything, but only if it works with someone with a physical body. When a pillar encounters a candidate with the requirements you know, it takes root in its mind, almost like a shadow; the big difference is that the pillar will just wait patiently for the guest to be ready. When the moment arrives, the pillar gives its light to the guest and leaves the body. In the meantime, it is still in your mind, waiting. If the situation becomes complicated, as in the dream, the pillar can act by will and use its light to fix things without the guest's consent, in case it's not ready."_

"Then, whoever the pillar is of us three, can't control it at the moment."

" _Well, he or she is not ready to do it. You three must train hard; the pillar will note the progress you make. When it decides you are ready, it will come out and show you who the one is. Then it will give he, or she, its light and leave. And don't worry, the pillar won't try to manipulate you or anything a shadow would do, since it's in fact the opposite."_

"Okay, I think now is a good moment to tell me what's this all about, is it not?" Penny had already grown tired of hearing terms and explanations she didn't understand about subjects she didn't know about.

" _Alright, I'll explain. See you later, guys."_ Inside the pet's heads the voice stopped. Penny, on the other hand, started to pay attention.

The three of them prepared to sleep once more, but before reaching that point Bolt and Mittens talked a little.

"Bolt?"

"Yes?"

She hesitated a little before asking, "If we were in a situation like the dream, would you give your life for ours?"

"Without any doubt." Despite his tiredness, his words came out in a firm tone. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just… I'm worried something bad might happen to you."

"That doesn't matter, as long as I know that you're safe, what happens to me doesn't matter."

Mittens broke away from Bolt. "Of course it matters!" She began to suppress tears. "If something happened to you… I don't know… what I would do." She cried as some tears began to roll down her cheeks.

The dog didn't know what to do in such a situation. He didn't want to see Mittens like that, but it was true what he had said. He would give his life for any of them. Without another idea, he just hugged her, keeping silent. She rested her head on his chest, her tears moistening the place. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke again, pulling away from the embrace.

"Bolt, I want you to promise me that you will not leave me." Her voice was still broken.

"Mittens, I… I can't promise you that." The dog closed his eyes tightly as he said those words, for though they were true, he knew she would take it the wrong way.

"Why… why not?" The cat began to cry again.

 _Not again, I shouldn't have told her that, I should have told her what she wanted to hear. A little inspiration here, please, I can't promise her that, it's a promise that I would break up sooner or later._

" _Not necessarily, Bolt. Look at my case; I left this world, but I still take care of my three little ones. That's a promise that you can keep, but not in the way she expects. If something happened to you, you would continue to take care of her from here, am I wrong?"_

 _You're right. Then, somehow, I will never actually abandon her._ "I promise I won't." He told Mittens, who stopped crying and looked at him surprised.

"But… you said that…"

"Yes, I did. But there was something that I wasn't considering. And with everything counted in, I promise you that I won't leave you alone. Never." And he hugged her again.

"Thanks Bolt."

"It was nothing." _Although I would still give my life for yours, but that's not important now._

Once more, Mittens broke the embrace and pulled away from Bolt. The dog looked at her, confused, until she decided to speak, "Bolt, I…"

"What's happening?" Flor had awakened only to find that scene, a scene she didn't like. "Everything's alright?"

"Yes," Mittens answered, somewhat annoyed. "Nothing happened."

"Okay." The collie closed her eyes again.

Mittens got to thinking how, for the second time, she had lost the moment she was going to use to confess her feelings to Bolt. "Mittens," He pulled her out of her thoughts. "Are you okay?"

She finished wiping away the remaining tears. "Yes, I'm fine."

"You were going to tell me something?"

"It was nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yes, Bolt. Let's go to sleep." She lay down besides the dog while he wrapped her in between his arms. "Goodnight, Bolt."

"Good night, Mittens." And he kissed her forehead again, leaving both of them flushed.

While they both fell asleep and Penny became aware of what was happening, inside Flor's mind, quite rooted in her subconscious, someone was working.

"So those two are in love, how delicious." It said to itself with a macabre smile. "If what she is thinking I'm interpreting it well, and I've always done it, that white dog also got her attention. I could play this game I like so much, how was it called?" Although it was alone, it still used sarcasm and cynicism alone, for it could not leave the guest's mind without it returning to the light, and it got easily bored. "Ah, yes. Let's play 'Form a love triangle and destroy a potentially dangerous friendship to be rewarded with more power'"

"What a stupid name for a game," Another shadow said as it arrived. "I see it's really boring here."

"How did you get in? Aren't you meant to be 'working'? Considering the fact that you have not achieved a single job well done since we got involved with that puppy, if I didn't know you so well I would say that you're getting purified." The shadow started laughing like crazy.

"It was a bad idea to try and bend them all four at the same time, even with my new power."

"HA! That's why your job sucks. You'll see how I manage to separate them. And then, when they're weak and depressed, I WILL KILL THEM.

"I really doubt it. From just being here I realize that the puppy is already uprooting you from Flor's mind. It's going to cost you a lot of effort to stay here more than a day or two."

"Enough time for me to do my job, unlike you, you can't do anything right even with more power and more time to do it. "

"I know what you're up to, and it won't work. If Flor turns out to really like him, she won't hurt him, even if you order her to. Moreover, if the puppy also falls in love with her, you will not last an hour without dying. And just to finish, if they both kissed, you would have about a second to get out of here if you value your existence."

"Shut up! Living doesn't matter to me; I only care to fulfill the task that was assigned to us. If I pay with my life, I'll do so with shadow pride. Besides, if all you said becomes a reality, the puppy and the kitten will have, 'relationship problems'. And if they don't pick the right words, they won't even be friends anymore." It said the last sentence in a tone like the one used for kids to learn things in school.

"I didn't think you were suicidal. If you want to die just for following orders, that's fine by me. But I do value my life, so I'll look for another way to hurt them."

"By the time you find your way, I will no longer be here, and they will be dead."

"Yeah, sure; whatever you say." And the shadow vanished from the place, leaving the 'local' alone again.

"Yes, you'd better run. Coward." It said before going back to its initial thoughts. "Now, back into the original issue…"

The rest of the night went smoothly. As dawn was approaching again, an alarm went off, waking Penny and the four animals up, though the last ones just closed their eyes again and tried to sleep a little longer. It didn't work so well with the girls, although Bolt and Rhino did fall asleep again. Even though she was already awake, Mittens didn't want to leave Bolt's embrace. However, Flor called her.

"Mittens, can I talk to you in private?" She asked, as she walked over to where she was lying next to Bolt.

"Sure," The cat answered, pulling away from the dog carefully. She looked at him for a few seconds. Before going down, Flor approached Bolt and kissed him on the cheek. "Why did you do that?"

The Border collie seemed to ignore the question. "Come, let's go down." And she left the room without looking back.

Mittens began to get annoyed by her, and it had been the second dialogue she'd had with that dog. Still thinking about the kiss she gave Bolt, Mittens went downstairs. "What do you want to talk about?" She asked.

"I want to clarify some things." The tone in her answer was no longer soft or tender as it had been until then. "Bolt is mine." She spoke dryly.

"What did you just say?"

"I said Bolt's for me. I want him to be my mate." Her voice was turning somber.

Mittens was impressed by the speed with which Flor had shown interest in Bolt; even so, she was not going to keep quiet. "I'm not going to let you. Besides, Bolt loves me."

"And if you're so sure, why don't you tell him your feelings, cat?" There was no answer, she had taken Mittens off guard. "You're afraid. You fear that he will reject you, you fear he won't want to see you again, you fear losing him. You prefer to stay comfortable where you are; you'd rather sleep in between his paws, but being just friends, because you are afraid. I'm not. That's it, today I'll tell him I'm interested in him."

"I won't let you… do it."

"And how do you plan to do that, kitty?"

Mittens couldn't take anymore and ran out of the house, just as Bolt and Rhino were just coming down the stairs. The shepherd saw Mittens running away with watery eyes. Searching for an explanation he went and looked for Flor, but he didn't see her anywhere. After checking the entire place, he decided he would go find them both after breakfast with Rhino.

They both ate without talking. When he had finished, Bolt went out to look for the girls, while Rhino turned on the T.V. Before he left the house, Penny came down, ready for school, and said goodbye to him, although there was a different expression on her face, perhaps for everything she had learned the previous night.

The dog decided that he would start talking to Flor. Even though he preferred to think not, he imagined that maybe the shadow had begun to try and separate them. The search didn't take long, for the Border collie was lying under the tree. Bolt came over to find out what had happened. "Hi, Flor."

"Hi, Bolt." She rose to lick his cheek.

 _Be friendly, be friendly._ "Fine, and you? How did you spend the night?"

"It was very nice. I hadn't slept in a soft mattress like that one for a very long time; although I would have liked more to sleep with you." She answered with a flirtatious tone in her voice, which Bolt could not decipher.

"Flor?"

"Yes?"

"Did anything happen before Rhino and I went down?"

The Border collie began to get nervous. "Eh… no. Why do you ask?"

"Because I saw Mittens come out teary-eyed when I was coming down."

"Ush, so sensitive."

"What happened, Flor?"

"Nothing, I just told her a truth and she ran away."

"Don't do it again, please." Bolt's voice had raised slightly.

"Why? What if I keep doing it?" Flor's now had a defiant tone.

 _Quick, think of something. Don't be aggressive, don't be direct. Aha! "_ Because if you stop, I'll let you sleep with me."

The collie quickly placed al her attention on Bolt. "Really?"

"Yes. But you have to promise me that you won't do anything to Mittens, neither with words, nor with fangs or claws; let alone with both."

"Deal!" She said immediately, beginning to jump and run all over the place.

While Flor continued to celebrate what she had just accomplished, Bolt went to find Mittens. As he didn't find her anywhere in the garden, he ended up looking in the barn. At first glance she wasn't there either, but the dog knew better than that. He listened carefully and concentrated on the scents of the place. Both led him to a heap of straw. Once more, it seemed nothing special, but since he was paying attention, he realized the straw rose and fell at a heavy breath's rhythm, and there was a slight sob coming from it.

"Mittens?" He asked, trying to think of something else to say. "Are you okay?"

"Go, Bolt," She said through sobs in a sad tone. "I want to be alone."

"Oh… okay. Is there anything I can do for you?"

 _Tell me you love me._ "No, just leave me alone."

"Alright," He replied softly, giving up. "If you need anything, you know I'm here for you." Then he headed for the exit, but he stopped a few feet from the door and lied there, looking outside.

Mittens felt terrible as soon as she heard Bolt walking away. _If I was far from being able to tell him what I feel, now I'm just as far as another country,_ she thought. She peered out of her hiding place, and to her surprise, she found Bolt waiting for her near the entrance, so she would have enough space for herself, but she would also have to talk to him before leaving. "Bolt…" she whispered.

Before sinking back into the straw, she saw Flor approaching Bolt with some excitement, apparently wanting to play with him. However, the shepherd didn't move from his place, and refused the invitation in the kindest way he found. When Flor left, Mittens hid again her head among the straw, feeling slightly happier.

Meanwhile, in the city, two wolves and a hawk were hiding in an alley.

"Why did we come to the city in the middle of the day, Mega!?"

"I told you; although we cannot get out of the alley, we can see if they begin to move the energy, and check the direction they take to follow when the night comes." The wolf replied, sure of his words.

"In addition to that, we are right now next to the first warehouse." Helang pointed out. "So sabotaging it will be very easy."

"Wasn't this place a high voltage power plant?"

"I think that's the alibi they're using to keep people away from the place."

"Alright; let me see if I understood. We will wait here all day without making a sound, hoping that they move it at night to intercept it; be it not that way we will use the maps to find the second warehouse and destroy it. Be as it may, after removing the energy, we'll come back and sabotage this warehouse, and see if we can get more information in the confusion. Did I miss something?"

"Only that this all was part of my geniality for plan making."

"You better not talk, Mega."

"Silence. You'll give us away."

"Sorry," Both wolves apologized in unison.

"Be careful, and pay attention to everything that happens," The hawk told them.

* * *

 **And that's it for this chapter. Things as they go, we won't be seeing Mega Byte or Helang next chapter, and I won't say more becaaause you'll see it soon. Once more, thanks for reading, special thanks to Basbon for his support and his reviews. Anyway, that's all I have to say, nos vemos luego.  
**


	14. New Friendships

Chapter 14: New friendships

It was already one o'clock and Penny would be home soon, as soon as school was over. Meanwhile, in her home, Rhino was still watching horror movies, Flor was in the garden, running around and chasing anything, while Bolt and Mittens were still in the barn, but not yet spoken to each other. The cat left her hiding place in silence and began to approach the shepherd, who remained lying near the door and looking out. Mittens now felt bad for how she had treated him, but she could think of nothing to do to make up for it. When she reached his side, she leaned next to him.

"Hi, Bolt," she said ashamed and embarrassed. However, the dog didn't seem angry or upset at all.

"Hi there, are you feeling better?" Bolt asked, hoping for a 'yes'.

"Not much, but I wanted to apologize to you for what I did. I acted like a…"

Bolt didn't let her finish. "Don't call yourself like that. You felt bad, and I understand; but I'd like to know what happened to help you."

Mittens laid her head on Bolt's side. "It was something Flor said to me."

"May I know what?"

"I… I would prefer not. Not for now at least.

"Okay," He passed an arm over her back, pulling her body towards him and holding her. "And don't worry about Flor, I already talked to her and she won't bother you anymore."

"What did you told her?"

Bolt began to hesitate. "Well, I… she wasn't… listening to me, so… I… I promised I'd let her… sleep with me, in exchange for leaving you alone." He said, somewhat nervously for Mittens' reaction.

The cat was quite taken aback by what she heard, not only because he had defended her, but because how that affair had ended. "So I can't sleep next to you anymore?"

"I don't see why not. But Flor will be there too." Bolt didn't like the sound of the idea any more than Mittens, but he had already made a deal, and he didn't know how to please them both. As much as he loved her, having Flor with a shadow in her mind was like having a spoiled child; if he didn't give her what she asked for one way or another, she would make a scandal. The problem was that the scandal would be sponsored by a shadow, and those creatures were capable of anything.

"Maybe I could…?" Mittens began, but stopped mid-sentence.

"Could what?"

"Nothing, it was a dumb idea." She lowered her head.

Bolt rolled his eyes. "Nothing, absolutely nothing that has to do with you is dumb, foolish, or anything similar. Please, Mittens." He put his other paw on her chin and raised her head, making their eyes meet.

She sighed in defeat. "Okay… I thought up that maybe I could… sleep over you."

The dog didn't say anything for a moment, blushing. After a few seconds, he looked at her again. "Sure."

"Really?"

"Yes, why not? You could sleep on me with no problem. Try it." He took his paw of her, and she got on top of him.

"You're right, there would be no problem." She leaned over the white shepherd, who didn't say anything about it; both enjoyed being near each other, feeling their coats brush against each other. After a few minutes, Mittens fell asleep on top of Bolt. He, for his part, didn't bother at all for that and ended up closing his eyes as well.

While the two lovers slept together, Flor was no longer playing in the garden; she was under the tree, thinking aloud.

"Why did I do that to Mittens? When I first saw her I wanted her to be my friend, I wanted to get to know her. Why did I attack her like that?"

 _"Because she has Bolt, and you want to be with him. You must have him for yourself. KILL THE CAT AND TAKE HIM!"_

"No!" Though she didn't know where the voice was coming from, she knew it was not hers; not even in her darkest thoughts she would do anything like that. "Not you, not again. I don't know who you are, but leave me alone; you're ruining my life."

" _No; you ruined it on your own. If you really want to get rid of me, get close to the puppy. That's your only option."_

"Why would you ever tell me how to get rid of you?"

 _"Not your business. But for once, I'm telling you the truth. If you get close to Bolt, I'll leave. In fact, you have to kiss him for me to leave."_

"But… that's just wrong! I met him yesterday. He's nice and kind, but I just met him. Besides, Mittens loves him, and he loves her."

 _"I didn't ask for his personal life or his relationships with anyone. I'm telling you, doggie: if you want to get rid of me, you have to kiss him. There's no other way, unless you want me to accompany you for the rest of your life, making you unable to form friendships, unable to love."_

Her eyes were watery now. "Why… why didn't I listen to them when they warned me about you?" Her voice was breaking.

 _"It's not like I care. Now you have two exits, because there's no way to get me out of here, and I will continue to feed your aggressive impulses, and nobody will never want to be with you."_

"Shut up!"

 _"Sure, doggie. But that doesn't change things. I'm still here. And you know what? Why don't we look for the kitty now, just to hurt her more? I'm sure it'll be fun."_

Then, without wanting to, Flor began to rise to her paws against her will. Already standing, struggling to control her own body, she began to walk slowly and awkwardly towards the barn. "Stop! Stop it!" Flor demanded, but there was no answer

"Oh, no. We are just beginning." This time her voice didn't sound like hers. Flor no longer had control over her actions.

The Border collie was moving towards the barn, awkwardly and noisily, for Flor was fighting to control her own body, without much result. The noise alerted Bolt, who woke Mittens from her sleep.

"Bolt? What is it?" She asked sleepily as she slid down from his back.

"I heard a noise outside. Stay here." And he headed for the exit. Being outside he found Flor moving in a very strange way. "Flor? Are you okay?"

"You… are going… to… die." She responded, her voice still not hers.

"Oh, no," The dog already knew what it meant. "It was you who attacked Mittens, not Flor."

"So what… if I did?" Flor was still attempting to regain control of her body. "Bolt…!" She yelped in a choked cry in her natural voice.

"Well, leave her alone. Get out of her mind and face me."

Flor began to laugh loudly. "Of course not, puppy. If being here there's no way I can lose. Punch me, if you dare." She continued laughing.

"You asked for it." Bolt began to run towards Flor, surprising the shadow for a moment.

"What will you do? Hurt her just to get rid of me? What a fool." But Bolt ignored it and kept running. As he was about to collide with Flor, he stopped dead and hugged her. "What?! No! You can't… stop… me." And after saying that, Flor fell unconscious between Bolt's arms. He laid her gently on the floor.

"Soul, I need your help!" He called.

 _"You have two alternatives, Bolt. One is to continue like this, and let the shadow be uprooted from Flor in a natural way giving her only your friendship; but you would have to deal with Flor being controlled by the shadow from time to time until it leaves..."_

"What would be the other one?"

 _"Well, you can accelerate things a lot, but you would have to do something you could regret."_

"Soul, that shadow will keep attacking Mittens while it's here. Tell me what I have to do and I will."

 _"You won't be so sure when you know. You would have to kiss her."_

Bolt was shocked by that answer. "Wow… you were right."

 _"I won't tell you which option to choose, because both have their risks, so the decision is up to you. Choose carefully."_

"Thank you, Soul." Bolt got to thinking after that. After some minutes, Flor woke up. "Flor, you okay?"

She looked regretful and sad. "Yes, Bolt… thanks for helping, that wasn't Me." She began to shed tears.

"It's okay, I know. You're okay now." He told her as she got up.

"That's not true. It's still in there," She pointed to her head. "And when it wakes up again, I could do something terrible. I could hurt Mittens more, or something worse." She cried.

Bolt held her to try and make her feel better. "Then I'll face it again, and I'll get it out for good."

"No, Bolt, you don't understand. There is no way, unless…"

"What's going on here?" Mittens asked. She had just came out of the barn, only to find Bolt holding Flor.

"Mittens, I… I had to help Flor." _Now I'm on a difficult one; I hope she doesn't get mad again, I don't like seeing her mad._

"Help her? Help her with what, exactly?" Her voice gave everything away, she was annoyed, and a lot.

"Help her to…"

"To apologize to you, Mittens."

The two of them turned to the collie. "What?"

Flor turned to Bolt and winked at him, a gesture the dog still couldn't quite interpret. "Yes, after what happened I felt very bad, but I didn't know how to apologize to you, so I asked Bolt to help me. As a thank-you, I hugged him."

"So…?"

"I'm sorry, Mittens. Please forgive me for saying those things. It wasn't me, I was not thinking." Even if she didn't want to, Mittens had to admit that there was repentance in each of Flor's words.

"Okay, I forgive you." She answered after some seconds. "It won't happen again, right?"

"I… I can't promise you that."

"What? Why not?"

Flor couldn't get to respond, as a familiar voice came in. "Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, Flor, I'm back!"

"It's Penny." And Bolt ran off, thinking of how Flor had saved him; he would have to think of something to make up for it.

Once the meal was served and everyone at the house was eating, Penny's mom reminded her of something important. "Darling, remember that the new neighbors arrive today, are we're going to meet them."

"It's true, I had forgotten that. Thanks for reminding me, mom."

"You're welcome."

"Did you hear that? We are going to have new neighbors." Rhino looked excited at the news.

"Will they have pets?" Flor asked, in that good mood she'd had since Bolt neutralized the shadow.

"I hope so, we could make more friends." Bolt commented.

"I just hope that, if they are dogs, they don't hate cats." Mittens added.

The mealtime passed with that as the subject of conversation. Once they finished they all went to the garden to wait for them to arrive. Before that happening, Flor pushed Bolt away from the others to tell him something.

"What's wrong, Flor?"

"I wanted to thank you for what you've done for me."

"It was nothing," The shepherd answered, right before getting curious. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," After what he had done, it was the least she could do to pay him.

"Does it… always controls you?" _I think I could have been a little less direct._

Flor sighed. "No, well, not quite. Right now it's not doing anything; I think you left it unconscious for what you did. But normally, no matter how hard I try, I can't stop it from telling or doing aggressive or impulsive things in my name. So even if I control my own body, it adds its touch to all of my words and actions."

"I understand," Bolt thought for a second. "So… about you and me… sleeping together…?"

Flor smiled. "It's okay, you don't have to. Yes, you're handsome and everything, but I met you yesterday. Besides, I think you only have eyes for this certain black cat," She added in a roguish tone, making Bolt blush. "and I wouldn't interfere in that, well, not by my will."

"Don't worry; when it wakes up I'll get rid of it."

"You can't. Unless…"

"Unless I kiss you," He completed for her.

"…Yes, that's right." Flor lowered her head.

Bolt stayed silent for a couple of seconds. "Would you like me to?"

The question made her look up again, totally surprised. "What!? But… But you love Mittens."

"I do, but I don't want to see you suffering either. I know that if we remain like this, it'll leave eventually, but in that meantime it may attack again. This… this other way would be much faster." He ended up saying, somewhat nervous. "But it's your decision."

"I…" Was her only response. Flor got to think about the matter for a long time, so long that the moving truck arrived along with the new neighbors.

"Think about it," Bolt told her gently as he returned with the others to greet the newcomers.

Penny left her house while her mom finished baking a cake. The new neighbors were a couple of newlyweds.

"Hello," He greeted. "I believe we're the new neighbors. I'm Diego, and she is wife, Fernanda."

"But I'd rather be called Fer," She added.

"I'm Penny. It's a pleasure." She shook hands with both of them. "My mom is inside, she won't be long."

"Sure. I see you have pets."

"Yes; they are Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, and this is Flor. I'm taking care of her while we find someone to adopt her."

"Honey, we could do it," Fer suggested. "After all, I think some feminine company would suit those two."

"Do you have pets?"

"Two dogs; let me call them." Diego whistled a couple of times. A few seconds later, two dogs came running, out of the truck. "He is Jonathan, and this is Pepe. Peep, we call him sometimes." Diego said as he pointed to each one.

"Hi, friends," The girl greeted them. "I hope they can get along with mine."

"Don't worry, they're not aggressive. They grew up with cats; they won't attack your kitten."

While the humans kept talking, the animals began themselves.

"Hi," greeted the first one. "My name is Jonathan, and this is Pepe." Jonathan was an Alaskan malamute with dark brown and white fur, of quite height, even a little taller than Bolt; his voice was grave but gentle. Pepe looked like a white Fox Terrier with some brown-orange colored spots, but he didn't seemed purebred. He also looked as if he were mistreated, for he had burns in the tip of his ears and tail; he also lacked some fur near his nose and eyes. "Yes… I… I'm Pepe. Peep… sometimes." His voice was quite sharp, but soft. After introducing himself, he walked over to his persons.

"I'm Bolt, she's Mittens, Rhino and Flor." The shepherd introduced his companions.

"Jonathan, what's wrong with Pepe?" Rhino asked.

The Alaskan malamute sighed. "He lived in the streets. We believe that his first persons mistreated him, for that reason the lack of fur and the burns. When we found him he was lying next to a trash can. We took him to the vet, who told us he had received a very hard hit in the head, that's why he's distracted and has a hard time speaking fluently; even so, he's part of the family."

"Sorry," the hamster murmured.

"Oh, it's okay. I don't get the impression that you're going to treat him badly, right?"

"Sure thing," they all asserted. "We'll treat him just right." Mittens added. However, Flor began to back away from them, and Bolt noticed that. After a little talk, she just excused herself and left while Penny and her mother helped Diego and Fer move things out of the truck and into their house.

The afternoon passed on without any sign of Flor. Meanwhile, they began to get to know each other. Bolt, Mittens and Rhino told Jonathan and Peep a little about their adventure across the country; those two didn't had much to tell. They were still talking when a familiar voice rang out from the tree.

"Great, new faces."

They all turned to see the cat owning that voice, and the trio saluted. "Hi, Kass."

"Hi, guys. Who are these new friends?"

"My name's Jonathan and he's Pepe."

"Yes… I… I'm Pepe. Peep… sometimes."

"And I'm Kass. And I'm going to bring the two puppies that I live with; this will please them, a couple of new friends to play with." He commented just before leaving with incredible agility.

"As I was saying, they trained me since very young for tracking and location, as well as sport hunting, although I don't like killing other animals just for a sport." Jonathan continued, for he was talking about his past.

"I… I was looking for balls. And I… bring them… to them… back." Peep commented. He was telling them the part of his past that he remembered, although he looked cheerful with everything and everything.

Everyone continued chatting for a while. Kass came back after ten minutes, without the two Labrador retriever, since they were apparently on a walk. The afternoon went away in talks and anecdotes while Flor was still missing. After each group was called back to their homes by their respective persons they all said goodbye and went back.

"Hey guys, have you seen Flor?" Bolt asked inside.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her since we started talking to Jonathan and Peep." Rhino answered without much thought.

"I'll go and find her." Bolt said, noticing the glances of his friends. "I won't go away from here." He added, going out the dog door, leaving both confused.

Bolt headed straight for the barn, as it was becoming everyone's favorite hiding place out there. His guess was correct, for on entering he saw Flor, her back towards the exit, sobbing. "Flor?"

She tried to stop sobbing to answer, but failed. "Hi, Bolt."

"What are you doing here? You okay?"

"No, Bolt, I'm not. You saw those new dogs, I liked them a lot, just like you three when I met you. But I'm afraid… I'm afraid it'll wake up and put words in my mouth, I don't want to hurt nobody like I did to Mittens. I don't think there's a problem with you, and Rhino's always on his world… but what if it makes me attack Mittens again, or Peep, or Jonathan? I don't want to be a burden; I don't want to be a problem." Unable to help it, she burst into tears.

Bolt came over to hold her and calm her down. "Don't be afraid, they feed on that. You stay with me and it will go. And… there's that other solution, though I don't know why it has to be like that. If you feel it's necessary, I'll help you."

Flor rested her head on Bolt's chest. "Thanks, Bolt, but I'd have to consider it; if Mittens finds out that, her heart… would probably break."

"Maybe we could keep her abreast of…"

"No!" She raised her voice suddenly. "Sorry, but I'm ashamed to tell her that I have… that thing in my head."

"Okay, okay. You consider it, just think about it, and I'll help you, whatever method you choose." Bolt separated from Flor. "Come on, we should go back inside."

He headed for the exit, Flor right behind him.

Back in the house, Mittens began to behave strangely. She kept glaring at Flor and Bolt. He couldn't interpret her gesture, but Flor felt very sorry to know that she had hurt her. Dinner passed without talk, except for Rhino narrating his fantasies and the talk between Penny and her mother.

When it was time to go to sleep Mittens stayed downstairs and asked Bolt to do the same. "What is it, Mittens?" He asked innocently.

She still had her accusing look. "What happened when you went to get Flor?"

"Well, she was very sad, worried about… something, so I lifted her spirits a little."

"May I ask what was it?"

"I think you should ask her, it's a very personal thing." The shepherd then remembered something, past Mittens' angry eyes. "Oh, and don't worry about sleeping, she told me we could leave it like that."

That one surprised Mittens. "Really? What happened?"

"I can only tell you that she was not herself when she told you that, or when she began to look at me like that. She really wants to be your friend, but something is stopping her." Bolt saw that Mittens was about to ask something. "It's something she should tell you, and I hope she does when she's ready." And that being said he went upstairs.

Mittens stayed down, thinking. She still doubted Flor's true intentions. After a while she concluded that it wouldn't take her anywhere. She went up to Penny's room, where she found Flor saying good night to Bolt without kissing his cheek, and headed for the mattress she was using. However, she was disconcerted by the thing she got to hear when she got into earshot, "You should tell her, Flor. You really should," and that phrase got stuck into her head. She finally decided to leave it and got to bed next to Bolt as it was customary. Unlike the previous days, Mittens climbed him and got comfortable on his side, making him blush.

"You liked that idea didn't you?" He asked her when she had finished settling on top of him.

"Quite. Besides, you're soft and comfortable." She responded with a chuckle.

"Goodnight, Mittens."

But she felt something was missing, even though she was on top of him, cuddling, he was not holding her like he always did. Without saying anything, she slid down and curled up beside him. "But I think I'd rather sleep this way."

"Fine by me," He said as he placed his arms around her and kissed her forehead again. "Goodnight, Mittens." He repeated.

She rested her head on his chest and felt her body falling asleep. "Goodnight, Bolt."

* * *

 **Okay, that's chapter 14, freshly translated. I'd like to know your opinions on this two new friends, and just for you to know, "Pepe" is a pretty popular nickname, at least from where I come from, but I think it doesn't suit english that well, so tell me if I should keep him like "Pepe", or go on with "Peep"... and I think you can tell what the problem is becoming here, so yeah, I'll tell you it won't last long, but... Anyway, special thanks to my bud Basbon, and thanks evryone for reading this. I don't have anything else to say, so nos vemos luego.  
**


	15. A long day

Chapter 15: A long day

As the night passed without apparent problems in Penny's room, a small meeting between two shadows was taking place within Flor's mind.

"Still with your suicidal ideas?" The shadow that had been bothering for a while asked.

"Yes, and I won't leave them." His companion replied firmly.

"Great."

"What? What's great?"

The shadow smiled grimly. "If you're so determined to give up your life by forcing those two to kiss, then I can take advantage of your work and further drive the trouble you're going to cause. When you make your kamikaze move, I'll make sure the kitten sees it; with her heart broken, manipulate her will be so easy that I'll take control of her body in no time."

The other shadow smiled as well. "I like the way you think."

They both started laughing like crazy, until a question came to the visitor. "But what will you do if the puppy keeps hugging her?"

The suicidal shadow laughed a little longer before answering. "They aren't the only ones to learn. The more they resort to that method, the less it'll work. In the end, they'll have to kiss if they want me out of here."

"Then I'll finish what you start." And they kept laughing for a long time.

The night ended with no major problem for anyone. As dawn was approaching an alarm went off, causing Penny to rise and waking Mittens and Rhino up, who to their surprise saw that neither Bolt nor Flor were present. The cat, trying not to let her imagination fly too far, came down to the first level, were she saw Bolt holding Flor again. After thinking quickly, she decided not to make any noise and see what she could find out.

"Better?" Bolt asked, parting from the embrace.

"Yes… a little." She answered. "I have the feeling that it won't work much longer."

 _Work? Work what?_

"Well, there's still that… other method." _What method? Why did he stutter when he said it?_

"No, I told you, Bolt. It would do me very well, but Mittens could get hurt."

"You could start by explaining what's going on; I don't even know why everyone tells me everything. Then I am the one who has to keep secrets, and it's not nice to lie to her." _What secrets? What are you talking about?_

"Oh, yes. It's a good idea. Let me rehearse it." Flor replied sarcastically and a little irritated. "It would be… 'Hi, Mittens, I wanted to tell you that I have a shadow in my mind that forces me to do and say things. That's why I said those things yesterday; but don't worry, because I only have to KISS the dog you love for it to leave.' Do you like the sound of it?"

Bolt didn't answer for some seconds. "Well, maybe not with those words, but you can tell her about the shadow. You don't even have to tell her the other part because you don't want to do it.

 _That's why they were acting strangely! But… Bolt wouldn't kiss her, would he? It sounds like it's their only solution, but…_

Flor placed on an evil smile again. "Or I could just stay with you, puppy." She said in a seductive tone.

"Not again," The hug's effect seemed to be only lasting a few minutes. "Flor, don't move." But the Border collie ran out before Bolt could do his part. "Damn! If she finds anyone outside, we'll have trouble." He said before running out after her, shouting her name.

Mittens stayed processing what she had just heard. That had solved all of her doubts about Flor; however she was not calmer knowing that their only apparent solution for Flor's problem was for Bolt to kiss her, she didn't even want to think about it. But she could also tell that Bolt wasn't interested in Flor as a mate, rather that he wanted to help her out.

She came out of her thoughts at the sound of Bolt's voice, from outside. "Stay still! Fight it, Flor!" She peeked out a window and saw the white shepherd chasing her across the garden as if they were playing. Bolt wouldn't have gotten her if Flor hadn't placed a paw in a wrong place, making her trip over. Bolt took advantage of that moment and jumped on her to hug her with as much affection as he could find. After a few seconds he separated from her and let her rise; then the two began walking back into the house. Mittens began to feel compassion for the collie, but she didn't want her beloved to kiss her, so she set out to help in whatever she could.

As soon as the two dogs entered, Mittens ran to Flor and hugged her, confusing them both. After she pulled away from the dog, Bolt reacted to her gesture. "What did you hear, Mittens?" His voice was nervous.

"Just enough, wags," She answered in a very calm tone, compared to the ones she'd been using to address Bolt. "And I want to help."

The puppy's face got brightened at hearing that she was calling him wags again. "Great," He responded joyfully. _Perhaps with Mittens' help we can take the shadow of Flor without having to…_

"Good morning! Come on, we have to train!" Rhino almost shouted as he came down the stairs.

"Train?" The tree echoed at a time.

"In case you don't remember it, we're on a very important issue. And since we didn't see any of them yesterday, I thought we might as well start training on our own." He explained, his voice reaching a level of seriousness never heard before. "But before that, comes breakfast, and meanwhile Penny comes down to serve it, let's see what's in the magic box." And he headed for the television.

Bolt and Mittens understood where the hamster was going with the training idea. However, it was dangerous to leave Flor alone in those moments. "You're right, Rhino, but I think it would be a better idea to leave the training for some other day."

"Why, Bolt?"

The dog turned to see Flor, who nodded; then he spoke again. "Because we have a problem; Flor has a deep-seated shadow inside her and we're trying to get it out."

"A shadow? How did that happen?"

Everyone went silent and looked at Flor, who got nervous. "Well… that's not important right now, is it?" She said with a nervous smile.

"Okay, then tell me," Rhino spoke again. "What are you doing to get the creature of the darkness out of there and how is it working?"

"It's true," Bolt remembered. "You don't know how to deal with them. Okay, the day we went to the forest…" Bolt told his friends what he had been told about how to deal with the shadows rooted in someone's mind.

"So fondly?"

"Yes, Rhino; however the shadow seems to be adapting. Yesterday when Flor lost control with one hug I managed to make the shadow stay still for the rest of the day, but today we've resorted to this method about seven times, and Penny hasn't even left for school." Bolt explained, looking worried.

"And there's not…?" Rhino's question was interrupted by Flor laughing somberly again.

"There is… nothing you can do… to help her. She will die, and you'll accompany her."

"Stop her, Bolt!" Before Flor could do anything, Bolt stopped her with his paws and pulled her into a hug, this time Mittens and Rhino joining in a couple of seconds later.

"Th…Thank you, guys." She told them in a weak voice after the embrace ended. "I really don't want to be a burden." She looked down.

"You're not," The white dog said softly as he approached her again. "But we have to get rid of it, one way or another."

"No, Bolt, I'm… fine."

"We could see how it goes today. If it seems to be getting out of control, we'll look for another way to deal with it."

"There is another way, Rhino…" Bolt started.

"But we don't want to use it." Flor finished for him.

Everyone got to thinking for a while how could they force the shadow to leave Flor's mind, yet nothing came to anyone. After that Rhino went to the television to look for anything that could be useful for them. "Guys, I think you might want to see this." He spoke after stopping on a news channel.

"What is it, Rhino?" Mittens asked as she reached the hamster in the couch.

"I think I found them," he said, pointing to the television. "Look."

On the newsreel was the image of a shredded truck, from which there was a column of dark purple colored smoke emanating, with a lot of fragments from shattered crystals around. There was a man talking about the facts, but no one understood what Rhino meant.

"Found who, Rhino?" Bolt asked him.

"Let them play what the security camera caught once more. And pay attention to it."

Everyone paid attention to both the image and the voice. "As we said a few moments ago, it's not known what the cargo of the truck was, except that it was fuel of some kind. The explosion occurred yesterday evening, about half past eleven; a security camera caught the escape of three subjects." On the screen appeared the security tape; a truck was advancing at normal speed, and suddenly a luminous sphere hit its back, initiating a fire that ended making the truck explode. From the debris two shadows came running, and one more flying.

"There!" Rhino almost shouted.

"Wait, Rhino, you think they blew the truck? Why would they do that?" Bolt asked as the news kept going.

"I don't know. But those were them." The hamster answered, sure of his words.

"What good it would do, to do something like that?"

"It's not what it seems. The truck… was carrying… dark… energy. The media… have no idea." Flor struggled to say, just before starting to squirm with a painful expression on her face.

"What's wrong with her?" Mittens asked, frightened, standing behind Bolt.

" _The shadow, it's making a tantrum. Careful there, it might do something. I'll try to control it."_ That being said, Flor's expression relaxed a little.

"Soul, why did they attack the truck?" Bolt asked, still doubtful.

" _Just as Flor told you, it was carrying dark energy. There were neither wounded nor dead during that event. I trained them into sabotage and stealth tactics because normally there are a lot more of them than us, so it's necessary to weaken their forces before launching an offensive."_

"Were they behind that one, too?" Rhino asked, pointing to the screen. Now there was a ruined power station, with the same smoke coming from it.

" _Yes; they were using that place as a storehouse for dark energy. Usually they take abandoned places like that and use them as alibi so people won't approach them."_

Suddenly, Flor began to make strange noises and run randomly around the area. After a few seconds, she fell to the ground unconscious.

"What happened now?" Mittens asked, still behind Bolt.

" _It's complicated; she is struggling to free herself from the shadow, but the process is very painful, moreover, it's not one hundredth percent effective. The most effective method would be…"_

"You don't have to say it, I'm aware of it."

" _Actually, I was not going to say that. Being here, with all this free time, I found another solution."_

"Really? And what…?"

Bolt received a gentle touch on the head. "See you later, Bolt."

"Penny's already leaving? How long have we been talking?"

"Just enough for her to come down, have breakfast, serve our breakfast, and leave." He got his answer from the kitchen, and realized that Mittens and Rhino were already there.

" _I'll explain it to you later, Bolt, but you will need help from Helang and the wolves."_

"Well… okay." And he went to the kitchen to have breakfast, not without waking Flor first.

Breakfast was normal; apparently the shadow was exhausted from the tantrum and would be quiet for some time. After eating, the four went out to play, since it was the best way to train, according to Rhino.

"…The classic tag game, you don't let the persecutor touch you, or you'll have to chase next."

"Can I ask what this has to do with training, rodent?"

"Simple: chasing each other can help us improve our speed; having to evade the persecutor will give us the opportunity to develop agility to run dodging both a persecutor and obstacles at the same time." He reasoned clearly proud of his discovery.

"Sounds good to me," Bolt agreed. "Girls?"

"Alright." Mittens answered.

"Yes… I'm going to play." Flor still looked uneasy.

"Don't worry; if it wakes up we'll take care of you, the three of us." Bolt answered. He wanted to help her as soon as it was possible, and he had asked Soul to send his students to them the moment they were available, hoping for a solution as effective as a kiss, but not being so.

Flor smiled a little. "Okay, I trust you."

"Very well, with everything settled… Bolt is it!" And Rhino quickly touched Bolt's paw and ran, along with Mittens and Flor. Bolt took aim for chasing Mittens, but keeping an eye on Flor, just in case.

The dog ran until he had almost reached Mittens, but with her agility, she changed direction abruptly, forcing Bolt to stop before pursuing her again. However, when he turned she was gone; in fact there was no one but him on sight. They were all hidden. Bolt began to walk slowly, paying attention to his surroundings and trying to find his friends.

From one moment to the next one, someone struck him and immobilized him against the floor. When he opened his eyes he found Flor with a threatening look on her eyes. "Flor?" He asked, and got a snarl for an answer. "Guys, we have a problem!"

The moment he spoke those words, Flor began to try and bite Bolt, while he only dodged her bites with the little movement he could perform. Mittens and Rhino came out of their hiding places in a hurry when they heard they friend shout, just to see Flor trying to bite him. They both started running towards them. "Hold on, Bolt!" The hamster shouted at him, distracting Flor for a moment.

Bolt took advantage of the fact that Flor was distracted to turn her around, staying on top of her while her tried to immobilize her. "Quick, guys!" He waited for them both to arrive in order for them three to hug Flor for several seconds.

Once the embrace was over Flor was unconscious again. Bolt carried her inside, where they waited for her to wake up. When she did, she burst into tears as she remembered what had happened. "I'm a monster," she repeated between sobs.

"No, you're not. You're our friend." Bolt couldn't think of anything else to say, so he hugged her again. The Border collie placed her head on the shepherd's chest as he continued to comfort her, bringing a pang of jealousy to Mittens.

"Why don't we watch a movie instead?" Rhino suggested as he turned on the television again.

"Sounds good, but not a horror one Rhino."

"Why, you scared cat?"

"I agree with Mittens, remember that fear gives them strength."

Rhino felt silent for a while. "Good point, Bolt. Let's see what we have here…" The hamster began to search. "I see, I see 'The Shining', 'Paranormal Activity', 'The Exorcist', 'The Conjuring'; Bolt, there's nothing here non-terror."

"Keep looking, Rhino, there must be something."

The little guy kept looking for some minutes before hitting on a non-horror movie. "How about this one? It's called 'Kung Fu Panda.'"

"Sounds good."

"Then that'll be." And he changed the channel so everyone could watch the movie.

While they watched the movie there was no problem; Flor fell asleep next to Bolt about halfway. The other three finished watching it about two-thirty. It struck them that Penny wasn't back from school, but seeing their bowls with enough food for the afternoon and even for dinner, they imagined that she might had gone out with her school to a museum or something like that.

Their afternoon also went by with movies; with a couple of exceptions where Flor seemed to be losing control again and everyone had to help her, there was no major mishap. But Bolt was already worrying more about his friend; she was losing it more and more often and each time it was harder to get her back. After a second incident, she apologized and told everyone that she would be upstairs.

Being just past six-thirty, Bolt heard Soul's voice in his head. _"Bolt, Bolt, I need you to go out to the barn, and come with Flor."_

 _Soul, are we going to cure her?_

" _That's right, but it has to be as soon as possible."_

 _Okay, I'm on my way._

Then Bolt got up and jumped off the couch, heading for the stairs. "Where are you going, Bolt?" Rhino asked. "You'll miss the end."

"I'm going to take Flor out; it's time to cure her." He answered right before going upstairs.

The dog's comment made Mittens uncertain. As far as she knew, the only way to cure her was for Bolt to kiss her. The idea began to spin in her head, making her dizzy after so much thought, so she just went upstairs as well, leaving Rhino alone with the television. As she stood at the entrance to Penny's room, she heard a part of the conversation between the two dogs.

"Really?" She was asking.

"Yes, right now. Do you think it's awake?"

"I don't know, but the longer we wait, the more likely it will, so let's go." Flor left the room and found Mittens standing there. "Hi, Mittens," She said cheerfully.

"Hi," She answered, doubtful again as Flor headed for the stairs.

"Mittens? I thought you were with Rhino." Bolt said, making her turn her head to face him.

"Well, yes. But I'm… tired, so I preferred to come up here." She was afraid to ask, but she wanted to be sure. "How are you going to cure Flor? Are you going to…?" She couldn't finish the sentence.

"What?" The dog began to blush. "Oh, no, no, no; Soul told me he had found another way to do it, but he asked me to go right away, so I have to go."

"Sure. I hope everything goes okay." She went into the room to lie on Bolt's mattress.

"Me too," He whispered.

Bolt then hurried out of the house and into the barn. Once there, he saw Mega and Byte with some scrapes and stains of different materials on their pelts. Helang looked perfectly fine, and was standing on Flor's head, who was totally still. "What happened?" He asked as he saw the scene. "No, no time; you'll tell me later." He answered himself. "Soul?"

" _Alright, time to heal Flor. Are you ready?"_

"Yes; let's get this over with."

Outside the barn, a shadow heard everything. "Time to bring up the kitty," it whispered to itself, placing on its evil smile and vanishing into the air.

* * *

 **And here's chapter 15. Curious? Well, I'll keep going as fast as I can for this, so I hope in one weeek (or less) you'll see what's next. Anyway, as always, thanks for reading, special thanks to Basbon for reviewing the story, and we'll see each other soon. That's all I have to say, nos vemos luego.  
**


	16. A thousand events in one night

Chapter 16: A thousand events in one night.

Forty-five minutes after Bolt had arrived in the barn, the process to free Flor from her shadow hadn't been carried out, for Mega had begun to talk about their recent mission to the white shepherd. "…So I pointed at the truck before it went any further and…"

"Very well, Mega, I think that was enough for now." Byte interrupted, a little impatient since her brother hadn't stopped, not even to take a breath, since he began to tell his story.

"But I was already getting to the thrilling part, you had to ruin the moment, right?"

"Don't start arguing," Helang interfered, still over Flor's head. "Mega, you can finish your story later, the shadow will be growing stronger and stronger until we stop it."

"Well, you're right. Besides, I wouldn't let your friends stay without knowing about this story." He told Bolt.

"Okay. Bolt, in order to get the shadow out of Flor's mind, our master had told you that you had to kiss her, but after analyzing the way you neutralized it for a certain time with a hug, he studied the situation more deeply." The hawk said.

" _After studying the behavior of the shadow after each hug that you gave her, I came to the conclusion that you only have to give it more power to remove the shadow for good. Now it would be a good time to use the pillar, if any of you were ready,"_ There was a small pause. _"But, in absence of that, Mega, Byte and Helang will support you."_

"Okay, tell me what I have to do." Bolt requested, looking determined. How couldn't he? He was going to save Flor without having to kiss her.

"You just have to hug her again." Byte replied.

"But what would be the difference?"

" _I'll explain. At this moment I am immobilizing Flor, so that her shadow won't try anything; she can't hear us either, it's like a noise-proof glass to her exact measure. She can't interact with the world, so I'll have to lower the barrier in order for you to embrace her. When you do, Mega, Byte and Helang will aim at you with their light, powering the embrace more. If could imagine that you're with Mittens, that would also help. This way, the hug will reach the level of a kiss in the lips, causing the shadow to leave her mind or die."_

"So… I just have to hug her, imagining she's Mittens?"

"That's right, Bolt, and leave the rest to us." Mega's smile always inspired confidence.

"Okay, let's do it."

"Very well. Just give us a few minutes to absorb enough energy. If we want it to come out, we'll have to shoot it full-powered." Then Byte noticed Bolt was going to ask. "Don't worry, you'll feel nothing but a great amount of energy running through your body. You must transmit it to Flor using the embrace make it work."

The three wild animals closed their eyes and planted their claws in the earth, as if they were small roots. A draft of air also entered the barn, confusing Bolt.

" _We normally absorb energy from the four basic elements, or some of their variations. Electricity varies from fire; ice varies from water; light varies from air; darkness varies from earth."_

"But…?"

" _Lighting is electricity, but if it hits a tree it causes a fire. If you cool down water it will turn to ice. Being outside, it's normal to see even a pinch of light. Being underground, if you don't carry your own source of light, or night vision, you walk in darkness. You can give them different combinations to create some other elements, but not all of them. This is why they are called the four elements of alchemy, or the four Greek elements."_

"Thanks, Soul, you read my mind."

" _That's exactly what I did."_ Bolt was going to ask something again. _"No, there are differences between darkness and shadows. I'll explain it later."_

"Thank you."

They went silent, letting the three students absorb energy. Meanwhile, Mittens was asleep on Bolt's mattress, dreaming.

Mittens' P.O.V.

I was in the garden, everything looked normal. I looked around and found Bolt lying under the tree. Excited, I ran to where he was. If these dreams could be useful for something, was to rehearse what I was going to tell him. I approached him in silence, reviewing how I was going to start; yet, being close to him, I saw Flor coming up to throw herself on him and kiss him. I froze again, feeling my heart break.

"Why?" I whispered to myself.

"Because you were too slow, kitten." The shadow again. I didn't like it entering my head. "In fact, I'd bet my one month of negative energy rations that if they have not kissed, they're about to." It said, laughing.

"That's not true. He told me they had found another way to take your friend out of Flor's mind." I really wanted to believe it, but I was doubting my own words.

"Okay. First, it's not a friend, it's an ally, and there's a difference. Second, why don't you go and check? If he has nothing to hide, he'll let you be present when he frees her, won't he?"

That was really confusing, but I got to think that it had a point. I closed my eyes and woke up on Bolt's mattress. The next thing I said was a noise from the barn, so I ran to see what it was. When I looked through the door… I wish I hadn't. Mega, Byte and Helang were there, all three of them, lying down and resting, but more importantly, Flor was on top of Bolt, on top of _my_ Bolt, and he was hugging her. Their mouths were less than an inch away from each other. Bolt suddenly looked over at me, and quickly pushed Flor from him. "Mittens!" He began to call me, but I couldn't, I just couldn't. I ran off towards the city; he had broken my heart, but this time it had been for real. He had kissed her, and I couldn't see him every day after that.

Bolt's P.O.V.

This time they planned it very well. So well, that if I don't find her and fix this, I will lose her forever. She just got to the wrong place at the wrong time. It had been two minutes with Soul's kids absorbing energy when he told me to get ready. I approached Flor and began to visualize how do I hug Mittens. _"Ready?"_

"Sure," I said as turned. I saw their bodies glowing, the light becoming more and more intense. After a few seconds, they opened their mouths and pointed at me. Three beams of light came out and towards my body; as soon as I received the impact, just as Byte had said, I felt a lot of energy in me. I felt capable of running back to New York without resting.

" _Okay, Bolt. On three I will open the barrier. No matter what the shadow tries, just hold Flor until you feel out of special energy."_

"I'm ready."

" _Alright. One. Two,"_ Then I stopped receiving energy and saw them three lying down on the floor, they had probably used all of their energy for this. _"Three!"_

Everything went very fast. As soon as she was free, Flor threw herself at me, knocking me down while shouting, "For the darkness!" I imagine her shadow was controlling her. I didn't understand what that was for, so I just held her without getting up, closing my eyes for a second and visualizing Mittens. When I opened them, I instinctively turned to see the entrance to the barn, then it all made sense. Mittens was standing there, her eyes watering. As soon as I saw her, I separated from Flor, already unconscious, and tried to keep her from leaving. "Mittens!" But she ran away. They had planned it all along.

"Soul, how's Flor?"

" _She's okay. There's no more shadow in her, and you even got a little energy left. And that's good, because you're going to need it if you want to catch up with her."_

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

" _I know,"_ I was going to ask something else, but he got ahead of me. _"They're all fine. Flor's mind is reacting to the fact that there's no more shadow. She'll wake up soon. As for my kids, they just need to rest. So go find Mittens, but for yesterday now. Go!"_

Without wasting another moment I ran out of the barn at an amazing speed. I never thought I would reach this kind of acceleration outside the set; it was almost as fast as my zoom-zoom. "Where did she go?"

" _Towards the city. More or less where you were when you met the twins."_

"They're twins? I thought they were just siblings."

" _That's a story for another day, Bolt. She turned right here."_

I was already on the outskirts of the city, following her scent while Soul rectified I was on the right track. _"Right there, Bolt. In that alley."_ The last alley on the planet I'd like to go to. The alley where the Pitbull attacked me.

"Oh, no." The idea of going back to that place didn't please me, but it was not for me, it was for Mittens. She had entered that place, and so did I. The Pitbull had her cornered against the end of the alley. "Leave her alone."

The dog turned to me. He had a new scar on the lower part of his forehead, almost between his eyes. "You again? I thought I had killed you." He went silent for a moment. "You alone this time, or are you going to ask your friend for help?" He was clearly referring to Mega; probably he made the new scar.

I merely repeated what I had said, "Leave her alone." And I stood in combat position. I still had a little energy they had given to me, maybe that would help.

" _Okay, Bolt. I'll predict his movements for you. Remember, self-defense, not attack."_

The Pitbull got into combat position as well. "If that's what you want." And he lashed out at me.

" _Left! Now!"_ I obeyed without hesitation and moved left, enough for him to pass me by and letting me kick his side, over another wound I guess, since he screamed in pain. I took the opportunity and went to Mittens. She was lying on the floor and crying with her eyes closed, she hadn't realized I was there.

I was just about to tell her something, but I heard an angry call behind me. "I've had enough of you!" This time he jumped at me, to try and bite me.

I just followed Soul's instructions. _"Right! Down! Punch! Jump! Left! Duck!"_ But I was doing pretty well; I don't like fighting, but considering that I'll have to face the shadows sooner or later… " _Block it!"_ This time I was slow and got a scratch on the face, slightly deep. But I got advantage of the time I got between that one and another one he was aiming to give, as well as the fact that he was standing on his hind legs, to throw myself at him as had done with the shadow a couple days ago, giving him a headbutt in the pit of the stomach.

The Pitbull instantly fell back, an expression of pain on his face. After several seconds he was the same, but I wasn't sure if he was pretending. _"Go with her, Bolt. If he gets up I'll let you know."_

 _Thanks, Soul._

I approached the cat again. "Mittens?" As soon as she heard me speak, she opened her eyes and jumped away from me.

"Get away from me!" She shouted rather angry, making me lower my ears. "I don't want to see you again, Bolt!" Then I imagined that maybe a shadow was trying to take her.

"Mittens, listen…"

"I don't want to! I don't want to have anything to do with you!"

" _Duck!"_ But this time it wasn't the Pitbull, it had been Mittens who jumped at me. Following Soul's order I ducked, but when turned back she was running away from me, to the alley's exit. As fast as my tired body allowed me, I got ahead of her and blocked her way out.

"You have to listen to me. What you saw…"

"I don't care, Bolt! I don't want to be around you!" She shouted at me as she tried to pass me.

I was already tired, after the fight I had no additional energy and didn't have a lot of mine either. If I didn't stop her from leaving, I would lose her. In a last, desperate attempt to stop her, I lay still, knowing she would try and pass me. As soon as she tried to jump over me, I grabbed her with my paws, hard, so she wouldn't leave. Before anything else happened, I closed my eyes and kissed her. I could feel her as she slowly stopped struggling and stood still, following the kiss.

" _That's just right, hero! The moment could've been another one, but better late than never."_

After some seconds I pulled away from her. She looked surprised and her cheeks were red, just like mine. "Mittens, I've been trying to gather the courage to tell you that I'm in love with you, that I love you more than anything else in the world and that you're the most important thing for me." I took a breath and focused, I was really doing it. "I know what you saw there gave a lot to imagination, but if you give me the opportunity to explain and come home with me, I…" I couldn't finish, she stopped me, with another kiss.

When we parted, she hugged me and laid her head on my chest. "Me too. I love you too, Bolt. I don't know what happened in there, but I was wrong to assume anything, right?"

"Right." Now I felt great. I had told her, I had jumped into the void just to realize I could fly. Nothing else mattered. "Mittens, would you be my…?"

"Yes, Bolt. One and one thousand times, yes." And she kissed me again. It felt very good.

With that arranged, we both started walking back home. She had to help me a little because of the fatigue I had; they had given me a lot of energy, yes, but my body was not used to it. The way back was pleasant, just she and me, talking about nothing in particular, after finally telling her how I feel, I just enjoyed the way.

* * *

Once the of them returned to Penny's house, the first thing they saw was Flor running across the garden from side to side without stopping. "Hello, guys!" She greeted energetically, and gave no chance to answer as she added, "I'm all right now! I'm cured, thank you, Bolt!" And she hugged the shepherd shortly.

"I'm glad to know that you're all right," The white dog replied. "In fact, we also have something to tell you. We are…"

"Mates!" Mittens interrupted him.

"Really?" Flor could hardly believe it. A smile formed on her face. "Great, now we have two great reasons to celebrate! Congratulations to both of you!" And she continued to run across the garden, as if her energy were inexhaustible.

They both made their way into the house, were Penny had already returned, though she seemed worried about something. But before finding out anything that could burst their bubble, the lovers went with Rhino.

"Hi, guys." He waved from the couch as he watched television.

"Rhino, there's something we want to tell you." Bolt said, though this time he felt silent to let Mittens say the whole sentence, she seemed to like saying it out loud.

"We're mates!" She told the little guy excitedly.

As soon as she said it, the hamster stopped paying attention to the television to turn to see them both. "You're… mates," He seemed to be processing it. "You're mates. You're mates!" She shouted excitedly. "My two best friends are now mates!" He kept repeating as he laughed.

The three of them were still on that when Penny passed by them, distracted, and she almost tripped over Bolt. "What's wrong with her?" The dog asked puzzled by her behavior.

"I don't know," Rhino answered. "She was like that when she arrived."

" _It's about something they told her. She went with her class to one of those temples for spiritual retreat. Where many people go to meditate and other so much to pretend they can predict your future and things like that to get a hold of your money. Fact is that one of the psychics told her she and her pets were going to face something big. That's why she looks like that."_

"And that one was…?"

" _No, it was a real psychic. I think it's pretty obvious that she'll be part of this, so I'll train her."_

Penny's P.O.V.

I was really worried, the seer had told me that I was about to face something big with my pets. Maybe it had to do with…?

" _Yes, it has to do with it."_ Just listening to that voice again made me startle. I didn't want to look like I was crazy, so I went to my room and closed the door.

"Okay, could you start at the beginning? The last time you were here you told me about this pillar thing, shadows, energy and some other things that left me overwhelmed. I couldn't even think clearly the next day. I don't even know what your name is.

" _Okay, I'll tell you that among your pets lies a pillar of light, a pure entity capable of achieving anything and with a light capable of illuminating everything. For the pillar to come out they need to train, so I assigned my three puppies to teach them. And you can call me Soul."_

"You didn't mention that you had pets."

" _Maybe because we only met once. In short, that pillar is used to combat the shadows, which I already explained to you what they are."_

"True."

" _Now, you'll be training too. However it will be harder for you to make significant progress. That's because us humans, from very young age, are taught by adults to have a square mind, unable to believe in magic or think different. But that doesn't mean it's impossible. For now, our priority will be to break the language barrier, that way you'll be able to talk to animals; you'll understand Bolt, Mittens and Rhino._

"This is going to be difficult, is not it?"

" _Everything worthwhile is difficult."_

"Okay… if I'm going to end up taking care of a pet that will save the world, I guess the least I could do is understand it."

" _Well said! Uh… not exactly, but at least you didn't tell your mother you heard me. And that's good; you would end up in the psychiatrist. By the way, it's very important that adults never hear of this. That's why your mother doesn't remember anything of that night."_

"Wait, you…?"

" _I erased her memory. For safety only."_

"And when do we begin?"

" _Today's Friday, is not it? Then we can start tomorrow. I won't always be here, so you might as well learn to train alone. A good start is to give you the time to re-believe that everything is possible, like when we were little and jumped on the bed, saying we could fly."_

"So, I…?"

" _You have to see the world again with the eyes of a child, yes. That helps a lot to release the potential that we all have inside, but only few give themselves the time to polish their extraordinary capabilities."_

Now this was totally confusing. From here, I have no idea what could happen to me or my friends. I just hope everything ends well.

* * *

 **And here's chapter 16. And finally, romance has gotten oficial! How's that? And this is only beginning, so get popcorn (okay, maybe not) and get ready, cause we're getting into it. Anyway, special thanks to Basbon for always reviewing the story, and thanks to everyone else who reads this too; without anything else to say, nos vemos luego.  
**


	17. Presentations

Chapter 17: Presentations

After Soul finished explaining to Penny what was really going on, she went downstairs for dinner, along with the four pets that were already waiting for her. Flor was still hyperactive because of all of the energy she had received to get the shadow out of her mind; Rhino was very excited to see at last his two best friends being happy beside each other, and those two couldn't ask for a better situation that the one they had.

The dinner went on without mishap. Penny told her mother that she would go out in the morning to the park with the four of them to play for a while. Everyone was moved by the news, so they finished their dinner and went to sleep as usual, with Flor on Mittens' mattress and the cat next to Bolt on his own; both of them very happy for their new relationship. Without further detail, everyone went to sleep.

As the night passed, in the camp were already Soul's three students, with their energy recharged and talking about what happened.

"Supposing he didn't find her, how bad things would get?" Mega was speculating about what might have happened after Bolt ran out to fetch Mittens.

"Quite. If they are not together both of them are easy targets; what has complicated the shadows' work until now is the union of those two." Byte replied; she was working on her patience at Helang's request, so she responded as calmly as she could to all of his questions.

"And supposing something happened to her, what are we going to do?"

"I think the best thing you can do is to wait until morning and ask Bolt how things worked out."

 _"Or I can tell you that those two are sleeping next to each other like the mates they are now."_

Both wolves got surprised by that. "What?"

"How did that happen, master?" Mega's curiosity had no problem in coming to the light.

" _Just as we originally planned for Bolt to cure Flor."_

"So he kissed Mittens," Helang said. "I'm still wondering how that may feel."

"Me too."

"Me not."

"Have you kissed someone, Mega?"

"Oh yeah," Both Byte and Helang got surprised by that.

"When? Who? And why didn't you tell me!?" Byte was now chasing him.

"Wait!" He shouted as he continued to run. "I'll tell you soon!" The yellowish wolf jumped on top of her brother. "I swear! I will!"

She thought about it for a few seconds. "Okay," And she got off the scared wolf, a look of terror on his face.

 _"Speaking of that, I think tomorrow would be a good day to get the whole group up to date."_

"To the whole group?" Helang asked, "Wouldn't it be…?"

 _"If we don't take advantage now that they have little energy supply to train them, there will be problems. Remember that Halloween is a fear generator, the biggest of them all. And we are two and a half weeks from that day. Besides, they have already seen them with their friends; if they don't train they'll become targets. So, tomorrow that Penny takes them to the park, get everyone up to date. And take Beta with you."_

"Sure, I'll let her know." Mega closed his eyes.

"Master, how are you…?"

 _"Let's say I'll move some cards for Penny to take Jonathan and Pepe with her to the park; as for the other three, we know they go to that park every Saturday, and so there won't be problem, Byte."_

"So we will train them all?"

 _"As you did with Mittens and Rhino, Helang; Offer them the opportunity, but let them decide. Although knowing them, everyone will accept."_

"Yes, master."

"Okay, Beta's notified and will see us at the edge of the forest in the morning." Mega said as he opened his eyes.

 _"Okay; now rest. You still need a little more time to recover the additional energy you carry with you."_

Without complaining at all, the three of them closed their eyes and leaned on the floor.

The night continued to advance. Being in the middle, a shadow returned to an abandoned building to present another mission failed, mentally begging it wouldn't lose its new abilities… or its very existence.

"I hope you've come to tell me what I want to hear this time," The stranger told it as it entered the room.

The shadow began to stammer. "Well… the plan began correctly… I managed to get the kitten to assume the puppy had kissed Flor, and then I began to take root in her mind, but…"

"But what?" The stranger's tone meant he wasn't going to tolerate another mistake.

"But the puppy found her and kissed her before the process was over, so I had to leave her mind. And my partner is dead."

"Yes, I got word it was going to go all kamikaze; but you were meant to take advantage of its suicide to separate those two, and you can't even bring me the black cat!" The stranger slammed the old desk hard, leaving another mark on it. "Give me one reason for me not to get rid of you!"

"Well… I got you a new guest."

There was a silence of a few seconds. "What kind of guest?"

"A Pitbull, sir. Our watchers say he already fought the puppy twice; we imagine that by telling him he'll have the opportunity to kill the puppy if he joins us, he'll do so without even asking."

"Well, that just saved your skin. But I won't tolerate another failure from you." The stranger got to think for a moment and the pulled out its radio. "Ben, I want the report on the energy loss."

"Right away, sir." Half a minute later, Ben entered the room. "According to the report, the energy drop was in our main warehouse. It is estimated that we are operating at twenty percent of our total capacity; the production of new shadows also stopped." Ben drew a breath and continued. "We have calculated that all this problems will be solved after the day of terror."

"October thirty-one. Thanks, Ben, you can leave."

"Yes, sir," Then Ben left the room as quickly as he had arrived.

The stranger remained silent for a few minutes. "I want you to leave field missions until terror day is over."

"Yes, sir," The shadow replied, confused. "May I ask what will I do in the meantime?"

"I want you to train the last shadows that were produced before the attack. Show them everything you know and take them to places where they can get a guest. Also, assign one to that… Pitbull. And I want them ready for the day of terror."

"Yes, sir," The shadow answered as it leaved the place.

"All right. I already lost Flor, and I have no idea of Beta's whereabouts; I need new trustworthy subordinates." The stranger told himself, and continued to think aloud for a while.

The night ended without ant other relevant event. As dawn was approaching again, an alarm that went off in the Penny's room woke them all five up.

"I thought it was Saturday," Rhino complained without even opening his eyes.

"It is, but Penny is going to take us to the park. Although… it's very early." Flor answered, yawning.

Penny then got out of bed and headed to the bathroom, leaving the four animals alone. Flor was the first one to finish waking up, as the first to go downstairs; Rhino was struggling to keep from falling asleep again, while Bolt and Mittens took their time.

"Good morning, Mittens," He said softly.

"Good morning, wags," She answered in the same tone and then kissed him.

"Good morning," Rhino's voice was heard from inside his ball, still with his eyes closed.

"Morning, Rhino," They both responded at a time.

"Can you help me get down, please?"

"Sure," The two lovers got up and Bolt picked up Rhino's hamster ball to bring it downstairs with him.

Down on the living room, the shepherd left the ball on the couch. "Thanks, Bolt," And he began to try and get up.

 _"Good morning, everyone."_

"Good morning, Soul." The four responded in unison.

Rhino finished waking up and turned on the television while Penny went down. The other three also jumped onto the couch, though they weren't paying attention to the T.V.

"What are we going to do in the park?" Flor now had a spark of joy, very different from when she was under the shadow's influence. Though she still seemed playful, the difference was noticeable in her gaze.

 _"I would suggest training."_

"On Saturday?"

 _"I've told you before, Flor, if you want to progress faster, you'll have to work harder."_

Flor thought on those words for a while. "Wait a moment. Are you him?"

 _"Indeed, it is me. I thought you already knew that."_

"How did this happen? Where are you? Are you still training the three? I would like to try again."

 _"I am certainly still training my puppies, but not from a physical body."_

"What?"

 _"The same day you infiltrated, the day they found you wounded and took you in here, I gave my life for the three. You were unconscious, so you didn't see me. However, being here allows me to help them in other ways that I couldn't before. And I would be happy to give you a second chance."_

"Did you two know each other?" Bolt asked.

"Yes, I met him…"

 _"Leave it for later, Flor. I would like to invite you all for a 'meeting' of presentations, you know, so that everyone will know each other. Mega, Byte and Helang will be waiting for you in the park; your new friends are invited too, as are the two puppies and the cat."_

"Are going to include them all in this?"

 _"They've seen you together, Bolt. If you train and they don't, the shadows might take them as bait. It is also true that I see quite good potential in all of them, they just have to polish it."_

"So, are we all going to train?"

"Good morning, everyone," Penny called as she came downstairs, ready to take them to the park.

 _"Everyone, Rhino. Even Penny."_

"This is gonna be BE-AWESOME!"

The four went for breakfast together with Penny, who had already told her mother that she would be at the park since early, and probably spend the day there. While eating, Rhino continued to talk about everything he would like to do as soon as he could use energy like the wolves and the hawk. Everyone waited for Penny as they finished; they all finally left, walking this time, to the park. Being just outside, they saw Peep chasing after Jonathan, who was running at a much slower speed than he could reach.

"Hi, Penny, where are you going wo early?" It was Diego's voice. The man was working on the outside of his house.

"Hi, I was going to take them four to the park."

"Oh, I see," He turned to see the two dogs, still playing. "I was planning on taking them too, but something seems to be wrong with the wiring down here, so I'll probably be busy all day long."

"I could bring them too, if you want." Penny suggested.

"Really?"

"Sure. After all, they get along with mine."

"Thanks, you would be doing me a great favor," Then Diego looked at Flor for a couple seconds. "And by the way, I talked with Fer, and we'd like to take care of Flor."

"Really?"

"Sure, but we're still unpacking things. Would it matter if she stays with you for another couple days?"

Penny turned to see the dog, who was wagging her tail. "What do you think, girl?" The Border collie replied that she agreed, but Penny and Diego only heard a bark. "Let's suppose that was a 'yes'."

"Yeah, well I have to get on with the job. Thanks again, Penny, I owe you one."

"Don't mention it," The girl turned to where the other two dogs were still playing. "Pepe, Jonathan." She called.

They both left what they were doing and went to Penny. "Hi, guys." The Alaskan malamute saluted.

Pepe followed his friend's greeting with a, "Ho… Hi."

"Hi, guys." All four answered. There was an expression of relief on Flor's face, probably because she didn't had to worry about recklessness with any of them.

"Okay, guys, we're going to the park. Do you want to come too?" Penny asked them both.

"Park! I love… pleeying in the park!" Pepe started to run around Penny, wagging his tail cheerfully.

"If he goes, then so do I." Jonathan, too, started wagging his tail, gesture Penny interpreted as a positive answer.

"Okay, then let's go." She began to walk, surrounded by all her furry friends, heading to the park.

The journey took about twenty minutes, without complications. Pepe continued to say that he loved to "plee" in the park, while Jonathan talked with the others. Flor took her chance and asked him what was it like to live with their persons, to which the Alaskan malamute replied that they were both very nice and attentive.

Once they arrived at the park everyone could see the sun rising among the treetops, it was half past six in the morning and there was no one else in sight. Penny pulled out of a backpack she had taken with her a couple of balls, and handed them to Bolt for him to play with the rest. "In the meantime, I'll start training," She said.

"Yes, a ball!" Pepe began jumping up and down. "I want… go for it! Throw it, please!"

Bolt handed the ball to Mittens and she threw it; Pepe ran after it. "Maybe we could play a while before…"

"Before what?" A familiar voice interrupted.

They all turned around to find the two Labrador Retrievers, accompanied by the orange cat who had spoken.

"Before we introduce you to each other." Mittens finished her sentence.

"She's Alpha and he's Delta; you already know Kass," Bolt said, introducing them to Jonathan. "This is Jonathan, guys, he arrived with the new neighbors." As Bolt spoke, Pepe came back to Mittens with the ball on his mouth to ask her to throw it again. "And this is Pepe."

"Yes I… I'm Pepe. Peep… sometimes." The little guy said as soon as he heard his name.

"Peep, these are Alpha, Delta and Kass." Bolt pointed to them as he named them.

"Hi… friends." He greeted with a smile.

"Hello," The three of them answered.

Mittens then threw the ball for Peep once more, and the little dog ran after it. "What's wrong with him?" Alpha asked as he got away.

"Well…"

 _"I think it's better to talk only when you're all together."_ Said a voice quite familiar for four of them; however the other five weren't used to hearing things.

"Voice… in my head!" Peep ran back and stood close to Jonathan, like a puppy looking for refuge in his parents. The Alaskan malamute had also been surprised by the voice, but he tried to appear calm, so as not to worry his little friend more.

"Yes, I heard it too," Was his answer.

Alpha was looking in all directions, looking for who had said it; Delta seemed confused by it, though he didn't seemed as confused as his sister, and Kass was merely standing still, like if he didn't care.

"Who said that?" Alpha asked after a few more seconds of looking.

"It was…" Bolt began.

 _"I'll introduce myself in a moment; for now, I want you to go to those trees over there. Some friends are waiting for you there."_

Bolt, Mittens, Rhino and Flor already knew what was going on, so they stared walking.

"Where are you going? How do you know if it's safe to trust… him?" Delta asked cautiously.

"He's a friend of ours. We'll explain it in a moment." Bolt replied turning to see the Labrador retriever; Kass was already heading for the place Soul had asked them to.

"Okay, come on then," Jonathan said a little more confident, as Peep walked besides him.

The place Soul had asked them to go to was completely surrounded by trees, it was almost like a small forest inside the park. As soon as the group got there, surprises came right away.

"So it's true," A wolf dark-gray-furred with a slight bluish tint came out of the bushes. "It is you."

Jonathan got ready in case it became necessary to fight the wolf, Peep was still behind him; Kass seemed quite indifferent to the situation. However, in Alpha's and Delta's faces, astonishment became visible. "Dad!" They shouted at a time as they ran to embrace the wolf.

"I told you that would happen," Said a female voice, just before another wolf emerged to stand next to the first one.

"Although it was not difficult to predict that they would be excited." A third voice pointed as a peregrine falcon perched on a low branch of a tree.

"Aunt Byte, uncle Helang!"

"Hello, kids," Both replied. The rest of them were somewhat confused by the scene.

"Wait a second, do you know each other?"

"In fact, someone else is missing," Mega said a couple of seconds before another Labrador retriever arrived.

"Hello," She said calmly.

"Beta!" The two other Labrador retrievers ran to hug her.

"It's official, I'm totally confused."

 _"Let me help with that, Rhino. We can start by calming down and sit in a circle,"_ Soul's three students immediately obeyed and lay down Beta next to Byte and Helang on top of Mega's head. _"Now, we can all start with names. I don't have one right now so you can call me Soul, pleasure."_ The voice finished as the rest of them lay down too. Peep was beside Jonathan, Rhino was on top of Flor's head and Mittens was on top of Bolt's back. _"Now, I'll be with Penny while you introduce to each other."_

There was a short silence, broke by the darker wolf saying, "My name's Mega."

"And I'm Byte." The other one continued.

"Helang."

Presentations didn't take more than a minute, but there were still many doubts in everyone's heads. _"Okay, maybe now you can tell each other a little bit about your pasts."_

"That sounds good enough," Rhino spoke before anyone. "Okay, I spent a very good part of my life in a RV, watching the magic box and without much emotion, until one day…"

As Rhino spoke, Penny was trying to start training; however, it was difficult enough, since she didn't even know what to do or how to measure her progress. As she was becoming frustrated, a voice talked inside her head, " _You'll see the difference when you achieve it. In the meantime you must trust yourself."_

"But how will I know if I'm making any progress?"

 _"You won't. That's why you have to trust yourself."_

"Okay. You said we'd start by understanding animals, are we not?"

 _"Indeed, but you'll need to concentrate. In fact, for everything I'm going to teach you, you'll need to concentrate."_

"Okay, so what do I do?"

 _"I want you to close your eyes, but don't stop paying attention to your surroundings. You must be able to tell me everything and anything that's happening around you, even without using your eyes."_ Penny followed Soul's instructions and closed her eyes. _"Now, concentrate. Everything you consider a truth, place it as a lie, and the other way around; anything you can imagine is actually possible. You must believe that you can do it, or you won't be able to. Now, what are you going to do?"_

"I'm going to learn to talk to animals." Penny answered without opening her eyes and calmly, as if it were something you could see on a daily basis.

 _"Very good; you seem to have this under control. I want you to keep doing this little exercise whenever you can, one or two minutes at least, but every day. Soon we'll begin with the next stage."_

Penny nodded, and stood with her eyes closed, sitting on a bench. Meanwhile, Rhino had already finished with his story. Bolt and Mittens had helped him talk about their adventure, even though, she didn't mention anything that happened before she met Bolt, while he talked about every detail he remembered about his life on the T.V. set.

"Wow, who would have imagined it? Some crazy turns and changes life can give," Delta mentioned when they finished. "I guess this means now someone else has to tell their past."

"I… wanna talk." Peep spoke before anyone else, surprising Jonathan.

"You sure, Peep? It's not necessary." The Alaskan malamute seemed to be worried that some of the newcomers might make fun of his little brother.

"Yes… I tell you… where I come from."

 _"And I can help him narrate if he gets stuck with something."_

"Sure… thanks."

And so everyone began to pay attention to Peep to get to know his story.

* * *

 **So that's it for chapter 17. How's it going so far? We're just getting started! And the next couple chapters will center around my OC's pasts; in the spanish section of this it is a very popular thing to do so, you know. Also, it won't be in flashbacks, just the characters talking to each other in the park. Anyway, next chapter will have the first three of them. Well, I think that's all I have to say right now, thanks for reading, special thanks to Basbon, and nos vemos luego!  
**


	18. Pasts, part 1

Chapter 18: Pasts, part 1. The small, the big and the indifferent.

Peep's P.O.V.

 _Yei! It has been a long time since anyone paid such attention to me. I don't want to sund… rude, but it's not me's fault that from everything I think only half comes out of my mouth. Though… I don't remember many words that are used every day, like the four-wheeled things that move and make noise… something-mobiles… I'm sure John already told me the name about thirty times, but I just can't remember, no matter how hard I try._

"Peep? Are you OK, buddy?" John's voice placed me back in park.

"Oh, yeah… I'm… I'm telling you, John."

"Take your time."

Everyone was paying attention, so I took a deep breath and started telling me's past… the part I remember anyway.

"I don't remember… my parents… or how I get there. Nor his name… or his dad's. Mom… I never saw her. House was not big… and not small… his oldness…"

" _His age?"_

"Yeah… was similar… to the one the little girl has… His dad always… carry this thin thing in his mouth… it smelled yucky… and had fire on one side. Sometimes, he also have… a bottle with him." I took a deep breath. _Yes, it can be… furstrating that your mouth processes half the things your mind does._ "One day… dad was back before… Trevor! Boy's name was Trevor. He had his… mouth thing, and his bottle… He walked… reeling a little… I… I crossed his path… acci-den-laly. He looked at me in an… ugly way. He took his thing… an placed fire on… ear's tip. Then the other… it hurt… much. He took some sec-seconds… with each one. I asked not to… but he did not… care, and did… also to tail's tip. When finished… he got me on… four-wheeled thing… and dropped me in park. I wait… many… many…"

" _Many hours?"_

"Yes, sitting there… but no one was for me. Sun came down, so I decided to… to go back alone. I knew… way pretty well. Took me a-while… to arrive. When I did… dad told Trevor he was glad… I come back… safe. He pretended… he did nothing to me! And it slowly became… a… thing that happens and happens."

" _A routine."_

"Aha… rou-tine; every time Trevor… was not… around, he would hurt me; always the same… ear tip or tail tip. I got… that thing persons have… when they have much to do…"

" _Stress."_

"Yeah… I was always… stress-d, I didn't want… more hurt. That made me's fur… fall. One day… I was tired of that, so I growl when he tried… hurt me. He… didn't like that… and punch me… on face quick-y. I backed a little… but keep… firm, expecting… another attack. He got in house and… came back with thing to dig…"

" _A shovel."_

"And I felt… pain in head… Another one, then… and lost… conscious-ness. I woke next to… trash can… with no strength at… all. I didn't remember… me's name… me's friends… me's… nothing, didn't remember nothing. I felt very sad. I spent several days… without moving, and only eating… trash." Then I smiled. "Your turn, John."

"Wait, you haven't tell us how you met him." Mega said.

"It's part of the plan… Mega."

Everyone looked at me confused. This was very funny, I was enjoying it. I looked at John again, so he would start talking.

Jonathan's P.O.V.

 _I don't understand at all why Peep stopped and asked me to talk myself, although I think I know what he wants to do. He's clever, he's not to blame for what happened to him. I hope nobody here underestimates him._

I noticed Peep looking at me, so I started my story.

"Okay, I was adopted as a puppy; as soon as I stopped needing milk I ended up in a car with a person on the other seat. His name, as far as I remember, was Saul. He told me I was destined for greatness, and that he would make me famous. At the time I didn't understand, but then came the training. He began to instruct me to run, dodge obstacles, chase objects in movement and to have resistance. However, I was just too young, so I did got tired, and distracted. He didn't like that, so whenever I started playing, he would go get a rifle…" I had to stop, everyone's faces were just hilarious when I said that. "A compressed air rifle, and fired into the air, just to scare me with the noise. It didn't take me long to understand that he didn't wanted me distracted."

"Months passed and I began to concentrate more on training, developed quite good resistance and speed, though my strength was still the one of a puppy. One day Saul got me into the car and took me to a place I'd never seen. There were other puppies, about my size and age. It was a hunting competition, the first one of my life. All the participants had twenty minutes to catch a squirrel, at least one, and would get points for doing so. Five for finding one, ten for cornering it somewhere and fifteen for… well, killing it and bringing it back. One of the judges pulled out a cage with several squirrels and opened it, then a whistle was heard and the competition started. For all I'd been training, finding a squirrel wasn't trouble. I caught it by the tail before it had a chance to climb a tree. As soon as Saul saw my with it he congratulated me, but when he noticed the squirrel was still alive, he made a serious expression and ordered me to bite it. After he repeated the command several times, I finally bit the squirrel."

Needless to say, I won first prize for speed, but I didn't like the fact that I had killed the poor squirrel. That's where the nightmare began: First it was every two months, then every month, two weeks, each week, until I trained from Monday to Thursday, competed on Friday and/or Saturday and rested on Sundays. It didn't bother me to chase animals, but I didn't like at all having to kill them in order to win. Somehow, killing I had learned to appreciate life. I hunted all kinds of animals, squirrels, raccoons, birds, rabbits, and hares, ducks, even foxes once I grew up enough. As I kept growing, competition got harder, and the prey had to be more in less time. Saul never treated me badly, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't enjoy his company, I mean, he forced me to kill other animals.

A little more than year and a half ago, I couldn't take it anymore. I had been forced to kill another dog in order to break a draw; it was almost like a dog fight, and I'm sure it was an illegal competition. Then I decided to run; the next day I ate and drank a lot. I waited for Saul to go to sleep, and I left the house. It wasn't hard, the fence wasn't high, and I jumped it after leaning on a trashcan. After that I swore I would never kill again unless it was totally necessary, and I began to walk through the streets towards a forest. It took me a couple of hours, but I arrived that same night.

I settled in a small cave, with no traces of life in it. The following months I got used to survive on my own; yes, I hunted and killed, but only for survival purposes, not to give a person money and fame. I became friends with other animals, two foxes, a deer, some moles; I think I could say I was in my own territory. More than once I overheard animals talking about 'a giant dog with extreme strength and speed,' while I was walking around.

One day I ran into a wolf when I was on my way back to the cave, apparently he had heard about me and wanted to face me. The guy was overconfident on himself, and I had him on the ground in no time. Before being massively beaten, punched and bitten, the guy told me a single sentence: 'Lesson one, Rookie: Wolves never travel alone'. I ended up lying on the floor, with no strength to move or get up. Unable to do anything about it, I just fell asleep there after a while.

I woke up, not knowing how much time had passed, since someone was poking me. When I opened my eyes I saw a human of adult age, quite good looking. As soon as he saw me, he smiled gently and began to heal my wounds. Once that was over, he lifted me up with a strength I'd never seen before in a human, and placed me in his car; being inside it, I saw for the last time what had been my home for months. This human, whose name was Diego, took me to his home, with his girlfriend, Fer. He asked her if I could stay, and she agreed instantly. A week later I had no more wounds and I could start a new life. Saul had named me 'Hunter', but that name was left behind, along with my collar, the day I ran away. Diego got to call me Jonathan, having John, or Johnny for nicknames.

A few more months went by, Diego and Fer had been engaged for a month before I got there, so almost every time we went for a walk we ended looking for dresses, cakes, invitations, yadda, yadda, yadda. But there was this day…

"Stop… me's turn again, John." Peep interrupted me.

 _So that's what he wanted._

Peep's P.O.V.

 _How's that! Genius idea, right? Now they know where we come from, and we can finish the story together._

"As I said… spend several days just lying on the floor. I didn't move… just eat or drink… what I could reach. Many persons saw me… none help me. That was, until a big dog came to where I was. He asked if I was okay… but I not had strength to answer. I just… smiled him and closed me's eyes. I woke up… on top of something soft… like a… couch. The big dog was there… his voice was serious, but… kind and… warm." I smiled again at John. "Your turn."

John looked at me and smiled too. "There was this day I smelled a scent had been taught to track, the scent of a wounded 'prey'. I followed it and it took me to a small dog, lying next to a trash can. I asked him if he was okay, but by that time he was closing his eyes, not even answering. Diego caught up with me a few seconds later, picked up the doggie and went find Fer. We took the boy to the vet, who told us pretty accurately what had happened to him; we were also explained that if we wanted to keep him, he would need a lot of care. Without hesitation we brought him home. The puppy didn't wake until the next day, enough time to get him his mattress and a collar. Throughout the day I heard the two of them think for a name for him." Then John looked at me again.

"When I heard his voice… I frightened for a second. After some minutes, he explained what had happened… and me's new name."

"It took them hours to decide, plus it was just a pretty common name from where we come from. 'Pepe' was the name they picked for him."

"The big dog offered me his frien-ship, and his protection. He told me his name was John… John… atan, and that I could live with them."

"Since then, Pepe joined the family; Diego and Fer got married a couple of months later. Through those months we would go to the park a lot."

"We met… other dogs. They said things that… made John chase them. I never understood them… fool… use-less." It was John's turn, but his face turned angry for a second.

"Three days after the wedding Diego announced that we would move to California. Neither knew where it was, but I was glad to be able to change neighbors."

"We came… to a very… beautiful place. Our neighbors turned to be… a she-kid, with her mother… along with a white dog… who seems to me… brave, noble and firm. There is… a black kitty… who I found tender and pretty, but… intelligent and cunning, too; a hamster is with them… imaginative and energetic… and as brave as his white friend. Last… and no least… another dog… who will soon be family. I didn't quite talked to her the day we met… but I think she's funny and playful… and pretty, too. We met… three siblings… an orange kitten… two little wolves… and a… hawk-y. And I hope… we can be friends."

* * *

When Peep had finished his story, with Jonathan's and Soul's help, everyone in the circle was looking at him, not with compassion, though. The little dog had earned everyone's hearts, and his big brother couldn't be anything but proud. The way he had talked was sincere, white, pure, and innocent. Flor couldn't resist rising to her paws and walking towards him to hug him, gesture Peep answered happily. Rhino took the moment to step on his head, and hugged him as well.

One by one, everyone joined the embrace for several seconds. When everyone returned to form the circle, Helang spoke, "Pepe, I don't think anyone here wouldn't want to be your friend. Everyone in this world should have a friend like you. I'm sure you're a pure being, one of the few that are left. It will be a pleasure to be with you on this."

"Thank you… Helang." He replied with a disgruntled smile.

"Okay," Mega broke the silence that was forming. "Who's next?"

"Usually it's the one who asks," Kass answered slyly. "But this time, it'll be me."

Kass' P.O.V.

Pepe's story softened my heart as nothing had done for a long time. _Perhaps he'll make me able to…_

Everyone was already paying attention, so I didn't waste time.

"Okay. I was born in the streets; my mother and father were with me, all of us alley cats. We had our own alley. The first thing my father taught me was that everything happens just perfectly. Of course, I didn't understand then, but he always repeated it. He would go out every day to get food for us all, while my mother would take care of me and teach me how to defend myself from an early age."

I was six months old when things started to get complicated; by that time I would also repeat my father's teachings like a parrot 'Truth varies depending on your focus', '"Normal" does not exist', 'Every truth is different from reality', but I barely understood their meaning. Anyway, that day dad went out as usual, but the fact is that he didn't return. Sunset was gone, and he hadn't returned. Mom went looking for him; she returned half an hour later, crying. When I asked, she said dad was gone somewhere else; I imagined he was on vacations or something, now I realize he had been killed.

Surprisingly, mom cried no more than an hour; then she resumed things. She told me she would have to get food from that day on, and so it was. Then I spent time alone in the alley while she looked for food, and she kept teaching me dad's ideals. In a short time I got to understand that things happen when, where, how, with whom and because they have to happen. That was why she hadn't stopped to cry or mourn. Months passed by and mom grew weaker, to the point where I was the one who got food for both of us. I did pretty well, knowing my way around and being able to defend myself. I was confident everything would be fine… even if it didn't.

One day I went back to the alley to find her lying on the floor, not wounded at all. Her time had come, and so she told me. I held her for one last time, and then she closed her eyes, never to open them again. The weird thing came after that: I surely was sad, but I couldn't let go of a single tear. I had 'matured' so much that I had forgotten how to cry. And so I decided to move on, as both of them would have told me. I had lost sensibility, and my ability to cry, but that wouldn't stop me.

"I left the city, looking for a new home. I made my way through different places until I got to this city, or well, the one that's nearby. No problem to find an alley, no problem to defend it, no problem getting myself a reputation… until a couple of Labrador retriever puppies got lost into the city and asked me to take them home. Bad luck, their person was home, and 'adopted' me. After that I lost my alley and reputation, so I accepted the invitation and got to sleep with them. However, I still go to the city, since I don't like to stay in one place." I ended up feeling strange again, as if I wanted to cry; but I couldn't, I don't remember how.

"Group hug!" Rhino shouted. I wasn't fast enough, and I got hugged by them all. Although I'm not very expressive, it felt good. Something big is going to start here, big and important. But I know it will be fine… even if it's not.

* * *

 **Now ths is the first part of the pasts. As I said, in the Spanish section it is a pretty popular thing to tell the pasts of the OC's, so I did it. Two more chapters like this, and you'll know everyone of my OC's pasts... with one exception; and I'm sorry if Peep's part was frustrating, it's just the way he talks since his incident. Anyway, thanks everyone for reading, special thanks to Basbon as always, and to Projectslang1, who started following the story and left a review a little ago, thanks for your support! And I guess that's all I ave to say right now... nos vemos luego!**


	19. Pasts, part 2

Chapter 19: Pasts, part 2. From Alpha to Omega and a Flower in the darkness

Once the second group hug ended, they all went back to their places and a small silence followed. After a few seconds, Delta broke it by saying, "Okay, we're next."

"What? Why?" His sister complained.

"Because we'll end up talking anyway; besides, knowing dad, he won't tell us anything until we talk, Alpha." Mega smiled to Delta's affirmation, implying it was true.

"Alright," Alfa said, resigned. "You talk."

Delta's P.O.V.

 _I sometimes don't understand her, every time she can, she reminds me that she's older and so, but when it comes to the truth, I end up being the ambassador of us._

I started to organize my ideas. "From what I remember, we were born in a house, among humans. There were six of us then. Alpha and Beta were the first to be born, followed by Gamma, the oldest of the males. After came myself, Dseta, the smallest of the girls, and Omega, the smallest of us all. Just a couple days later we woke up to a cold, hard surface. We were on an alley, and mom was with us. From what I heard, we weren't planned; of our biological father… we never knew anything."

Mother used to eat remnants of anything people left near the alley, she never left it. When we started needing solid food, she only left when it was needed, and no more than a couple of streets away. Females ate first, then us, and then mom. I think it was predictable that she would slowly grow weaker, since she wasn't eating well. Many times we tried to make her eat more, but she refused, she said it was important that we were strong, rather than her.

"One day she was gone, all day long. Enough food was left for us all for all day. Gamma calmed us down saying that she probably had something to do, and reasoning that she had left enough food. He was always the one who would take the leadership when we got into anything." If looks killed, Alpha would have killed me right now. "We went to sleep slightly more calm after that. Next morning she was back; when we asked her where she had been, she just replied it was something important and necessary. None of us understood, but she seemed nervous.

Some weeks passed by, but she was still nervous, even scared I would say. This one day, I understood why. She returned running to the alley, and as soon as she saw us she told us to hide and make no noise. We did, and stayed inside a trash can. After a few minutes, we heard two dogs talking to her… I think they wanted… well, you know… her. There were noises and screams, followed by a silence that lasted until everyone fell asleep inside the trash can.

The next day, we woke to the sound of someone looking for something in the alley. Gamma instructed us to be ready to protect the girls, though we probably wouldn't have lasted much. Finally, the trash can came open and we saw a wolf with dark gray fur and a slight bluish tone. He told us mom had asked him for help, in case anything happened to her; he took us out of the trash can and told us he would take us to a safe place. We got on his back, and ended up in a nearby forest, where there was a pretty she-wolf with white fur waiting for him.

In short time we were calling them mom and dad, we also met his sister and older brother, another she-wolf with light gray fur and yellowish tone and a peregrine falcon. Curiously, they only showed up when mom wasn't around, and left before she came back; I'm not sure they even knew about each other.

A few months later, mom suddenly had a talk with dad. When they finished it he seemed sad; he told us we had to go back to the humans. It was really sad, certainly dad wouldn't get a prize for his paternal performance, but it was fun to play with him. He wasn't that mature, but he always seemed happy and he would do fun things. Without being able to help it, we started looking for persons to take care of us. Dseta was the first one to leave with a family, since the little girl liked our sister from the moment she saw her at her door. Gamma and Omega went away together, adopted by a man who lived with his wife and two twins. It seemed so easy… and it wasn't for us. We were growing, and it becomes harder and harder to get adopted once you're not a puppy anymore.

In the end, we made a journey south with dad. Mom stayed with Beta. We ended up getting here, were a man that lived alone adopted us. After that things became simple: Breakfast, play, eat, play, supper, play, sleep, and repeat. On Saturdays he always lets us out all day and only calls us in the afternoon by whistling. A few months after we had settled, someone came up with the idea of walking away from the park and into the city. Worst day of my life. We spent so much time running away from aggressive dogs and bitter cats that my legs trembled. As luck would have it, we ended up in an alley occupied by an orange cat. We talked to him for a while, and we convinced him to help us get back home. Once there our person saw him and offered to take care of him, but he denied and left. He came back a couple of days later and accepted the invitation, resigned.

"After that day he became out adoptive brother, although he kept going out into the streets all the time and told us about what happened in the city. We got closer, even though he was quite cold. Now we're aware that we can count on him, and I hope he's aware that he can count on us."

When I finished talking, Alpha was looking down. _I remember now._ _She doesn't like to recall our past because she's embarrassed she couldn't take care of us if she was the oldest. That's why she wanted me to talk._

As if uncle Helang could read her mind, he began to speak, "It's important that you analyze your past to understand how did you end up here, but don't let yourselves drown on it. It's in the past, and it doesn't matter anymore; what matters is what you decide to do from now on."

She smiled a little at what she heard. "Thank you, uncle Helang."

"Okay, I'm next," Beta called out. This is what I was interested in. _What has she done since we got apart from her?_

Beta's P.O.V.

 _I didn't imagine I would see them again when I agreed to come with my father here. They seem bigger, and more mature, though they're still childish, I can perceive it. Perhaps if they had spent more time with dad they would have grown up more. Now that's ironic._

"Okay. Once dad left with my two remaining brothers I stayed with mom for a few weeks. She taught me how to hunt and survive in the woods, just as she taught me to use my senses. When dad returned, he made an offer to me: I could choose between going back and finding a person for me, or stay with him; the thing that surprised me was the seriousness in his voice when he asked. I agreed to go with him, on the condition that I would be doing some training with him and my uncles. Mom didn't seem aware of who the uncles were, and she grew more and more distant from dad and me. A few weeks later we began moving into the depths of the forest. I was surprised to see that no one approached us, nor challenged us; I even saw a pack of wolves get out of dad's way while he just walked."

When we got to what seemed a camp, dad told me that mom was gone; it made no sense, but he didn't explain any further. Aunt Byte and uncle Helang were there, as well as another black-and-white she-dog. There was only one tent, and from it a hooded figure with a staff emerged. The three adults bowed to it as soon as they saw it. I never knew his name, but it was nice to be near him. During the following months, I began to train as hard as I ever have in strength, speed, endurance, but also calm and sense control.

When I finally asked what it was that we were training I had a talk with him. He explained us everything that was going on to me and my comrade, Flor. It was overwhelming to know what was out there, but it motivated me to follow my father's pawsteps. I continued training, developing basic exceptional skills; extreme speed, strength, endurance and agility; for other abilities I didn't do so well, but it was okay. Flor, however, was not doing as good as me; she hadn't made progress in months. One day I talked to her, and she told me that she wanted to find an easier way to do all of it. Weeks after that talk she just left without leaving trace, but it rather seems to me now that they had let her go.

By the time I had been training for a year I had my skills quite developed; I found facility for fire and thunder manipulation, in addition to formidable eyesight, smell and hearing senses, and a premonition that was quite reliable. A little after that, 'He' left, leaving only dad and my uncles with me. Dad explained me a little bit more of what we were against and gave me my first assignment; he asked me to look for enemy bases in nearby cities and to meet him two weeks later.

I had no problem fulfilling my task, nor to get food or water during that time. I met dad when we had accorded to, and reported everything to him. However I noticed that where the camp had been there was nothing, like if it had never been there. He asked me to stay around until I received further instructions. I waited there about four days, until I heard aunt Byte's voice in my head. She told me that they were fine, but I needed to leave and move south, to California, to infiltrate an organization where Flor had ended up, serving the darkness. She explained to me that I had something special, a protection in my mind that would prevent any shadow from rooting in my mind; she also asked me to get into the organization and gain a high rank within, and the superiors' trust. The idea was that I would be their informant.

I had no trouble finding them, for I found a dog recruiting animals 'thirsting for power and glory' in the streets just two days after arriving. The complicated thing came up later. When they let a shadow into me, it died before it could try anything. After that, I had to learn in five minutes how to respond like a shadow would do from my mind. I did well, and got to the exam, which consisted of questions with answers that were taught to the shadows from their birth, with the idea of preventing someone to infiltrate the organization. Yes, I passed that too, using my ears to hear the questions and their answers before it was my turn. Once that was solved, I was inside the enemy fort in California.

I found Flor a week later, who told me that it was so much easier being here than just tedious training and annoying workout. I played along to make her believe that I was with the darkness, which got her to tell me what she knew. When they observed how close we were, we got assigned together. We had to face several field missions, everyone involved killing; even if I didn't want to, I still had to play along, even though I never landed the killing blow; however my skills became quite known around. I ascended quickly through the ranks, not leaving Flor behind, while I thought of some way to help her. I got to see animals being left orphans or widows just to generate their precious negative energy. However, a positive thing was that I got immunity to several shadow abilities, as well as allowing me to be updated to be aware of their new weapons. Curiously some of their new plants to produce new weapons got to… explode after I gave them the go-ahead to get them into operation.

"I never raised any suspicions at any time, and continued to pass on information to my father from time to time; one day he told me that they had found a pillar on the outskirts of the city. I was thrilled to know that, for I had never seen a pillar in action. I had only imagined it while they told me about their abilities. Some days later, Pitt assigned me and Flor on a mission to destroy some 'dangerous friendships' in a house outside the city. Before leaving I got several important papers with information for my father, but not before agreeing a plan with Flor. She was meant to infiltrate and get them separated, then I would eliminate them once they were alone and weak, though I wouldn't have done my part if it had worked. Finally, I decided not to return to the organization, pretending my shadow had died in an attempt to avoid raising suspicion." I said at last, finishing my story. My brothers were looking at me with eyes wide open; everyone actually was looking at me, their reactions were what worried me.

"Since you said a part of my story, I'll go next." Flor said before anyone else did anything.

Flor's P.O.V.

 _Okay, you said you would talk, now's the time; no matter what, Helang just said that what's in the past doesn't matter._

"So, I was born in a house, with persons, my mom and dad, two sisters, two brothers, and I was the smallest. When we grew up a little, one by one they began to go away, in the hands of other people. I was never taken, and that made me feel good, because I could stay with mom and dad, but slowly I started to feel my persons different, as if I wasn't meant to be there anymore."

It was a month or so before my life went crazy. One day we went out, all of us, I got separated from my parents, looking for someone to play with; when I came back, there was no one there, not my persons, nor my parents. I looked all over the park for them, but not a single clue. I had been abandoned.

I stayed where I was, feeling like doing nothing at all. The day ended and I was still there; I fell asleep after having cried for a while. When I woke up there was this big dog next to me. He asked me if I was lost, to which I said yes and asked for help; then he tried to grab me, and I tried to run away, but he got me. He carried me all the way to his alley. I screamed and cried all the way, but nobody seems to care what would happen to me; with that idea in my head, I just stopped trying, after all, what would be the point of me being free if no one cares?

I spent only one week under his 'care', where I had to clean the alley and entertain him in exchange for food and water every day, besides being obliged to call him 'master' if I didn't want a mark on my face. A feeling of hate began to grow inside me; after the week passed, imagining nothing would ever change, I started my work early. When he woke up and saw what I had done, he told that it was perfect, and that I should've worked like that all the week. He also promised to get me twice as much food as he usually did. He left the alley and I stayed there alone; controlled by my anger, I began to break and disorganize his stuff. When he returned he was obviously very angry, and he attacked me. Imagining that no one would care if I existed or not, I just closed my eyes and waited for my death, but it didn't come. When I opened my eyes I saw him lying on the ground unconscious, with a gray-furred she-wolf standing next to him. She asked me about my parents, and when I gave my answer she offered to care for me until we found them. I got on her back and she took me to a nearby forest.

I fell asleep on the way, so I didn't get to know where we went or when did we arrive. When I woke up my wounds were gone and I was lying next to her, with a hawk nearby too. A hooded figure appeared a little after I woke, and said that someone called Mega would arrive a few days later, and that then they could resume training; of course, I didn't understand at the moment, until three days later another wolf appeared with a puppy about my age. Since then we got into training for something daily. It came to a day when my partner asked what we were training for, so the hooded figure had a talk with both of us. He explained to us everything about darkness and light, and their methods to gain power. I wasn't totally convinced by his explanation about how to progress, if there was another, easier method, why not use it?

As much as I trained I didn't achieve any visible progress, and my patience and faith were exhausted quicky. One night I decided to find a shortcut to all of those abilities and power I had witnessed in them. I thought about inviting my partner, but she didn't seem to agree with my way of looking at the things. I went back to the city, where I found a white cat that was gathering animals around him. He was talking about power beyond imagination within reach of a simple 'yes'. The list of those who accepted his deal was long, few passed on it. 'How silly of them', I thought at that moment. It turned out that the fool was me.

After approaching the cat and talking to him I fell unconscious. I woke up feeling stronger, capable and more agile, but aggressive and impulsive too. I had a hard time not jumping on top of the first animals I saw in the room. After a little they made us some tests; for some reason I knew the answers from memory without actually knowing what the hell they were asking, but I didn't care, not when I had all that power.

A few weeks after I got there a general alert was given. Report said that the main base was under attack and all new recruits were ordered to exit the facility. Unable to oppose in any way, as a robot, I ran at full speed towards a transport that moved us south, to another city and another base, an abandoned building in the middle of the city. Once there I spent some days testing my new power, facing other newcomers in combat; it turned out I was the best of them all, so I was assigned my first mission, a field mission. It was very simple; I only had to kill a dog. When I met him, something lit inside me. I stopped thinking, lost my senses and just threw myself on the poor animal, killing him without any kind of pity or remorse. _What a shame… what a shame having to tell my friends about this._

"After my first successful mission I went back and passed on my report. I got many congratulations for my first kill and after a little while I was offered training new recruits, which I refused because I wanted to continue killing; whenever that word sounded I lost all control and couldn't help becoming totally wild, I weren't able to control my body, but I liked the intoxicating feeling of having so much power. A few says after the offer I found my previous training partner, Beta, in the building. We caught up and she told me that she had also grown tired of the boring training. Wanting to test my power one more time, I challenged her to a 'friendly' duel. Even so, she defeated me, being the fight quite a performance that probably was seen by some supervisor, because we got assigned together. We both went to missions almost one after another, killing dogs, cats, birds, even wild animals or humans sometimes, even though she usually contained herself, and it was me who gave the mortal blow." When I said that I saw Beta lowering her head, probably as ashamed as I was.

"We both ascended in ranks very closely until we became the best in the field missions sector; boss always entrusted us with the important missions and sent us to distant places a few times, giving us a little more than a week to return with the target dead, a term we fulfilled without problem. However, boss was always quiet; he never told us why he wanted dead those targets, or why he wanted so much negative energy, because we were getting him enough for an army of millions of shadows carrying weapon and armor all of them, and he would have enough for one or two more."

Anyway, all of that changed when we got assigned to kill a white dog living on the outskirts of the city, or at least take him away from his friends, particularly a black she-cat, in the intention of making him vulnerable. Beta and I agreed that she would wait for me, while I went undercover and separate them, ready to attack when my part was done. By then I was aware that I had that disgusting shadow in my mind, source of my power, but my doom too. It was more than stuck into fulfilling missions that it wouldn't let me do anything but train, even on my free days. Every time I tried to make a friend the shadow would spark aggressive instincts inside me and drive them away.

"Okay, so knowing that the persons in charge of the dog would pass by a highway I made myself some dark-wounds –temporary wounds that are fake– to get the girl to feel compassion for me and take me with her. I ended up in the house with the white dog and his friends… but I was fed up with causing problems, I wanted to stop, and my heart said so, but the shadow wouldn't leave me alone, it wanted more. A couple of days later and with the help of some old friends and the dog I finally managed to get the shadow off my head. Now I only have to say that I'm ready to redeem myself and try one more time."

* * *

When Flor finished her story, Beta still had her head down for everything that had been told, all the horrible things they had both done. However, someone got to help them, just with some words. _"Girls, like Helang said, the past doesn't matter; it's in the past and it's like that, for better or worse it can't be changed. It doesn't matter making mistakes, it matters that we learn from them in order to avoid committing them twice. Regret won't change what happened, but your will can change what's going to happen. You both have friends that support you; I don't think any of the presents would turn their backs on you if you asked for help."_

Both of them couldn't take it and started crying, hugging each other, prompting the others to form another group hug, one of those that would be worth remembering, that reminded both girls that there was now someone who would cover their backs, that would be with them. For now they were a team, and a family.

* * *

 **Okay, so here's the next chapter. First of all, I'm so sorry for missing on last week's one. Exams week, tons of homework, little time to work on it, so yeah, sorry. Now, next chapter will be the last one around pasts; and I'll try and keep the rhythm as much as always. Another thing is that things that may not have sense now will most likely be solved in the following chapter(s). Anyway, I think that's all I have to say right now, nos vemos luego!  
**


	20. Pasts, part 3

Chapter 20: Pasts, part 3: One flying, two running

Before the hug ended, Rhino spoke, "Guys, I have a question," he commented, looking at Soul's three students.

Mega, however, didn't let him continue, and said, "I think the answer is likely to be shown when you hear our past; if not, I will gladly respond to you."

"Thanks, Mega."

"Very well," The wolf continued. "I'll go first; after all, I do have something important to…"

"Actually, I think the oldest should do first, Mega."

"Yeah? Well, whatever." The wolf grimaced at his sister, making his three adoptive children chuckle. "You go first, Helang."

"Very well."

Helang's P.O.V.

 _Time for the truth, the part I know at least. I'm pretty sure master hasn't told us everything he knows; he'll probably do so when the time comes._

"Let's start from the begging like Byte said. From my earliest memories he was present. For what he told me I was an egg when he found me; apparently I had fallen from the nest. He said that he waited for someone to come looking for me but it never happened. The day came when the egg broke and I was taken under his care. Since I was very small he began to teach me a philosophy called _cogito ergo sum,_ or 'I think, therefore I am', and it established that you could achieve anything just by believing it was possible, which is the basis for any extraordinary ability. I always liked to see him train, jump, run, dodge, and move with the greatest agility imaginable… and he never seemed to get tired of it."

He already lived in the forest when I arrived, and had a small camp so he could live as part of the ecosystem, not on top of it. Unlike most humans, he hunted for his own food and got his own water; he always taught me that there was a chance of him being killed in the forest, most likely to another animal. He asked me not to get angry or sad if something like that happened to him, because it was part of the natural cycle. Herbivores kill plants to eat, carnivores kill herbivores, birds will eat ants while they are alive and ants will eat the bird once it's dead or wounded. The energy is transferred from one to another and always ends in the same place where it started.

When I began to grow I asked him to train me. To that petition he explained that it wasn't just for aesthetics alone that he did, that he was preparing to face a great threat, I still accepted, I wanted to help. The following weeks marked the rest of my life. I learned quickly, according to him, my mind was 'never bounded' because of the ways he had taught me; I also began to address him as my master. We started to travel to the forest while we continued training. The first skill I developed, at his request, was the premonition, commonly known as intuition or sixth sense.

Once I finished with the premonition, I moved onto the abilities that I had seen in him; speed, strength, agility and endurance, followed by the four basic elements and their variants. In a matter of months I was already training combat against him. He never asked me to restrain myself; I had the right to use my claws and beak, and he could use his staff. I was never able to defeat him: if I used fire he would counter with water, if I tried water he would use fire; technically they would neutralize each other, but his strength was far superior to mine, so I had the lower hand. If I used my speed, he would use his premonition to sense my attacks, but to try it otherwise, his attacks were too fast for me, even if I could foresee them. Every time I failed, he motivated me, not to defeat him, but to defeat myself; if I lasted five minutes one day, then make myself last seven the next one. That way, I improved a lot without having to defeat him once.

Eventually we left the forest behind and started looking for enemy bases; I think we were in Alaska by then, I would get information and then we would attack the base, always having the element of surprise to help us. It didn't take long to get rid of all the bases in the area, almost as if they were just getting organized. We received information that they were moving south, so we followed them. We arrived to another forest, once more away from the city and as part of the ecosystem, not over it. Things were almost like the first time, with the difference that this time I would go out scouting with him.

One day we were going back home when we met a white wolf who tried to attack us and steal the food master had gotten; however, he was no opponent for him. Needless to say that ever since I can remember he already knew how to talk with animals, and I'm not sure, but I think with plants too. Anyway, the wolf ended up lying on the floor, helpless, but master didn't kill him; instead, he asked for his reasons, asked why he had attacked us. The wolf didn't trust master at first, but eventually told us that he had a mate, that she was pregnant, and that they had been kicked out of their pack. He offered to help and care, at least until the puppies were born.

During the following weeks we went there daily, "there" being a small cave where the wolves had settled, we brought them food and kept them company. They seemed to complement each other, he was pure white and she was pure black; we got some fun trying to guess what color the puppies would be. When that day came something changed in the routine. We went to the point where we met the male every day after getting some food, but he was not there. Master told me to go home and he went looking for them in the direction the cave was; it was the only time I disobeyed an order. I silently took the same direction, getting ahead of the master because of my natural speed. On the way premonition showed me some unpleasant images, but I refused to believe it was true. Well, it was: when I arrived I found that he was missing, and she was lying on the floor, blood all around her, with the puppies by her side; couldn't tell if they were alive or not. Nearby there was a man with a gun that was placing something inside a bag. Master arrived a minute or so after I did, and when he saw the other man he told him to leave whatever he was doing and to leave the forest. The guy took his gun and pointed it at the master, but before he had time to load, master ran at him and with the staff he landed a blow on the guy's side. Then, without giving him chance to recover, master kicked his shin and made him fall to the floor. It all happened in no more than ten seconds. Unarmed and scared, the guy received one last warning from the master before he got the chance to run away, from which I remember 'don't try to put yourself above Nature, because you'll end up beneath it anyway; there's no way to beat your creator.'

When we were alone again, master ran right to the hunter's bag and found the dead male inside. I didn't see him put on a sad expression or something like that, not even crying a little, while I couldn't stop; they had become great friends and they were gone. We approached the female, she was dying and all puppies around her were dead too, two boys, one girl. With her last breath she told us she the two older ones were hidden and asked us to take care of them. She was only hanging on to life to tell us, and she closed her eyes as soon as she did; she didn't even have time to tell us where they were. Master picked up the bodies and placed them in a hole I helped him dig. Then he looked for a fruit nearby, ate it, and placed the seeds in the middle of their bodies before re-plugging the hole. After that he turned to me and told me that we would look for the puppies and that we wouldn't leave that place until we found them.

We searched everywhere, but didn't find them, so master made a bonfire and we spend the night there. What a surprise, the pups dawned right beside us, probably looking for warmth, or maybe food, but they were there; a male with a dark gray coat, slightly bluish and a female, light-gray-haired with a little yellowish coloration. They were identical, excepting the color, more than obvious that they were twins. So the master called them 'Mega' and 'Byte', taking a human word and breaking it down into two. He grew up with a little weakness in his left paw and she in her right one, a weakness they lost once they began training. Both were very talented since their puppyhood, and although he was older, she showed more seriousness in things. Just as it had happened with me, they asked master to train them, and accepted even after hearing what we were training for.

By then I was quite strong, and a difficult opponent in battle. My senses were far beyond the common ones and I had facility for all eight elements I had studied. Sometimes the master left for a few days, leaving me in charge of their training; both began to follow the steps I had followed. As they grew I noticed that Mega had facility to the aggressive elements and their variants, while Byte did better with the passive ones. The first controlled fire, electricity, ground and darkness, and the other, water, ice, air and light. Like their parents, they complimented each other.

One day master called us three and asked those two to go to nearby cities in search for something, he didn't tell what. I was sent to locate possible enemy bases in the zone. I gave a report upon returning; apparently they were recruiting animals that were afflicted by the death of their parents or brothers, as well as humans who were on the wrong path. For a while we didn't hear about Mega or Byte, but we did know they were alive, we could feel it.

Byte returned after five weeks, saying that she hadn't found anything. Master told her that she didn't have anything to find at that time. A few days later we finally got Mega's location, apparently he had adopted six puppies. Byte and I gave him a visit, leaving master in camp. All the pups seemed to adore him, but I noticed him a little… unfocused, as if he was hiding something, but I decided not to ask, we knew we could count on each other, and he knew he could ask us for help if he wanted. We spent a few days with him before he told us to go back to camp, and that we could visit him in a week. It was a strange move on his part, but I didn't ask. That way, visiting Mega and the kids became a routine; the kids actually began to call us 'uncle Helang' and 'aunt Byte'. Before having spent two months visiting them, Mega suddenly told us that they were going back to the humans, and we didn't see them again, without even having a chance to say good-bye.

With the spirits a little down because of that, Byte and I returned to camp. Master then told her that she could go out again, and maybe find something this time, so she slept with us and left the next morning. We spent a week alone, a time master used to tell me about the pillar of light, a concept I had never heard before. He told me that we would have to find them and train them to stop the shadows, as he told me that soon he would have to part from us for some time. Byte returned the seventh day with a Border collie puppy that was wounded. She treated her wounds and lay down to sleep besides her, and told us where and how she had found the little one. Master disappeared into his tent for a few hours, enough for the kid to wake up, and then he told us that Mega was on his way back, estimating three days as a time of arrival, that of course Mega fulfilled, arriving accompanied by one of his adoptive daughters.

Master began to train both pups. Beta did very well, but Flor had a grudge, a grudge that was slowing her progress and seemed to be dragging her into darkness. When they had almost one year of being there with us Flor left; anticipating this fact, master told us not to do anything about it, but to let the pieces fall in their place. Shortly afterwards he told us that he would make a trip of two and a half months maximum and that he would meet us further south. He also introduced us to a bear named Bernard, who had been training alone, and asked us to complete his training since he was a pillar of light. Beta never got to know him, her father had already sent her on her assignment after she agreed to help us with this.

Bernard was almost ready; we didn't have to teach him much. After having that solved we decided an attack on their bases with his help. The strike was a success, not one problem on the offensive, and it was not only because of our training, but also because of Bernard's help; I'm more than sure he could manipulate time; after all, imagination is the only limit. On after another the enemy bases began to fall, as did their reserves. However, we couldn't stop many new recruits being taken to the south, to another base, along with half of their negative energy. A shadow squadron gave us hunt before we could follow the transports. We left the shadows behind easily, an event that Bernard took advantage of in order to say goodbye to us and take his own path. As for the three of us, we ended up at the edge of a cliff and jumped. Well, I glided, but you get the idea. Nobody broke anything on the fall, and we headed south from there.

Byte sent a message to Beta, asking her to infiltrate the organization, aware of what could happen to her; she was just a pup. It is a decision I still don't fully understand. Anyway, the three of us headed to California, arrived a few weeks later and set up a camp. However, as soon as it was ready I got a call back from the north. I moved back there and found Bernard again, who was fighting the remains of the dark bases that were apparently trying to emerge from the ashes of their predecessors. There were still shadows hiding over there.

"We had no problem in putting what was left of the fire out, then I said goodbye to him and returned to California to catch up with the progress we were making down there. Not a surprise to get to know that the shadows were already attacking a possible pillar and its friends. By a request from the twins I paid a visit to its house one night and stood on a tree branch near the kitchen window. I waited for a few minutes before I saw a black cat appear, jump to the window and get to think. I helped her a little with her problems and then returned to camp, not without checking first that there were no more shadows bothering. After that we introduced ourselves to those three friends and I think the rest of it is known history."

Mega looked at me for a few seconds with one of his childish stares. "You know… the idea was for you to _start_ , not to get our whole existence narrated, what are we gonna say now? You took Bernard, out puppyhood, the elements, the cliff… so tell me, what do I say now, huh?"

A small chuckle was heard in general before Byte intervened, "You could tell us about your mate, or what happened when you weren't in camp," she proposed.

"Ladies first," was his response as he made a gesture with his paw.

Byte's P.O.V.

 _I don't know what he's planning with this. I pretty much had my whole story told by Helang, I didn't spend much time alone._

"What can I say? My puppyhood's been told… perhaps I could add that I always felt a little curious to know what had happened to my real parents, curiosity that was just fixed. I was bothered by the amount of dumb ideas and plans that Mega's mind could hold without exploding; I never thought he would be capable of taking care of anybody until I saw him with his puppies. At that time it seemed like a great idea for me to go to the city and adopt some abandoned puppies as well, thinking that they would be much better under my care than in the streets. During the short time I was alone, when master sent me to find something that I didn't know what it was, I found some animals under shadow control attacking families and puppies. It wasn't difficult to get rid of them; apparently they always sent their weak recruits, expecting to find no resistance at all."

"I didn't find 'anything' that caught my attention in the way master said it would, so I just returned to camp without any interesting things to tell. The second time was almost the same. After cleaning some neighborhoods from shadow control I set my destination to the camp, not without first leaving the pups I saved in capable hands; for some reason, the idea of taking them with me seemed… incorrect, even though I would have loved to adopt one or two of them. When I was on my way back, I found a dog bullying a pup. I got rid of him and asked the little girl about her parents. When she said she didn't know, something clicked in my mind. _She_ was the 'something' I had been sent to find, so I took her with me; she fell asleep on the road. When we arrived I healed her wounds and lay down next to her to keep her warm. You already know the next part, about them training, Flor leaving, Beta becoming one of ours and infiltrating the organization after accepting to take the same risks we take and so. I wasn't happy knowing that the girl was doing that kind of stuff to get information, killing those objectives, but she was already in there and regret would bring nothing."

"Could you… tell us what made… 'em special? The objectives they looked for?" Peep asked me with that bit of innocence in his voice, that hint of purity.

"I'll explain," Helang said before I could answer. "Not everyone knows, but shadows are organized based on their abilities: commons, tracking, hunting, elite and light destroyers. As we can always find equivalent things in both sides, there are being of light with different power status, but we haven't labeled them because we're kinda busy. To make it clear, the equivalent for light destroyers would be the pillar of light, even though this last one is a lot more powerful. However there are also outstanding light beings that won't reach that level." He took a breath, probably trying to organize his head. "Okay, every living being that's not a shadow is a light being. We are all born with capability of doing extraordinary stuff, but we get limited by society itself, intentional or not. Among all of the physical beings, you'll find those who complain about problems, most of them, those who propose solutions, some of them, and those who actually get up and do the change, which are few. Of those three levels, the last two ones are potential threats to a dark organization, that's why they send shadows to kill specific targets and not only a hundred dogs just because they want to. In addition, as mentioned before, shadows sometimes recruited widows or orphans, family of the targets they had killed, that were blinded by their pain. When a shadow roots inside a mind, the host's light slowly weakens. If the shadow spends too much time inside, the light will go out and whoever the host was before ceases to exist, becoming that body a body of darkness."

It was obvious, by the face, that Peep was processing it, everyone actually. Not even Bolt knew all of that. "Thanks, guys."

"You're welcome. Byte, continue, please."

"Yeah… actually I have nothing more to tell, they already know everything else, our arrival, how we made contact, the pillar and everything."

"Well, we don't know that much about the pillar yet." Jonathan pointed out.

"Very well. Essentially it's our greatest hope, a pure entity in heart and soul that that is opposite of a shadow and roots in the mind of a living being that is noble, devoted, brave and honest; that will know the power of friendship, happiness and love. This pillar will be able to achieve anything, even illuminate the darkest night if it proposes to do so. It has no boundaries and it's estimated that it could even move the cycle of life and death. Here, among us, the master said that there's a pillar between Bolt, Mittens and Rhino."

"However, you have to train a lot to achieve something like that, a vital part that you seemed to have forgotten." Mega reproached me. "Anyway, if you two are done, then I think it's my turn."

Mega's P.O.V.

 _Okay, secrets are over now. Byte and Helang will know where and when I kissed someone , the kids will know what happened to their mother… and I hope I don't have to explain things, many times I just follow the premonition as master taught me to._

"Puppyhood was defined, thanks Helang, so I'll go straight up ahead to the part where master sent us to find something. The first few days were simple, normal days; I hadn't even arrived to the city and there's little to tell about what happened in those days. Mid-day of the third day," _That sounded funny._ "everything changed. I found a beautiful white wolf in my way, and for the first time in my life I felt my heart quicken. During the following days I dedicated myself to get to know her better, and realized that I could have lowered the moon for her, just to see her happy. I think humans call it love at first sight…"

Perhaps I hurried things a little, or a lot, but I asked her to be my mate. Apparently the feeling was mutual, because she accepted. That was it, the moment where I kissed her… man, a great sensation. For a moment I thought this was that 'something' master had sent me to look for, but premonition said something else. A couple of days later I entered the city before she woke up, before dawn so that no one would be calling animal control to report a wolf in their city.

"I was just passing by when I heard some noises a few streets ahead of where I was. I followed the noise and saw two dogs struggling with a she-dog that had some food with her. I heard her crying that it wasn't even for her, but for her kids. That's when I decided to intervene; I got rid of the dogs, not killing them, if you were going to ask."

"There," Rhino called out. "If you met the she-dog that was the mother of the puppies that you ended up taking care of, why didn't you take them all with you from that day?"

 _Damn… This is exactly what I was trying to avoid. How could I_ ever _explain something like that?_ "Well… I… I don't really know. I knew those dogs belonged to a gang since they were marked, so if I had killed those, things would have gone worse for her. Instead I offered to take care of the kids if something were to happen to her. I even took her to the forest, and introduced her to my mate to explain the situation a little better. After we made an agreement she returned home."

"Yes, but… you knew they were in danger. Why didn't you take them with you since that day?"

 _I don't know! I have no idea! What can I say!?_

" _It was part of something called 'I help you by not helping you,'"_ Master spoke in, confusing me and apparently everyone else too.

" _I'll explain, though it may be hard to understand. Okay, being in the living world you'll all die one day, as you'll all face some unpleasant or complicated situations. You call them problems. There is no way to avoid either of those two, but you can decide how to deal with them. Point here is that every 'problem' you face has a lesson to be learned, a new knowledge you acquire after solving it. We all would love to skip our problems in life, but have you ever wondered what would happen if we did?"_ There was a silence. _"I suppose not. I'll give you an example. Bolt, everyone here knows your story, but what if something had been different? Let's suppose I saw you trying to find Penny and stopped you from leaving the set. Probably at that time everyone would have been happy and cheering me for what I did, for stopping you from getting lost. But now think about the others; where were Mittens and Rhino when you met them? Their lives changed with your arrival, but if you never arrived, then their lives never changed. You became a normal dog, saved a she-cat from the streets and alleys, made a great friend, who happens to be your number one fan too and you caused Penny to quit the show, all of this directly or indirectly, and all of it because you believed that you had superpowers, that Mittens worked for Doctor Calico and because you had never left the set before. If I had changed that, at the moment everyone would be happy with their lives: you would be saving the girl one more time, she would be extorting pigeons in New York and he would be in his RV watching the magic box all day long; the three of you imagining your lives couldn't be better than that. But if you look back from this perspective now, you realize that if you had the chance to go back in time and change something you probably wouldn't, because you wouldn't be here if you had acted differently. Not even the problem in Las Vegas, because if you had stayed with Mittens, nobody would have found Penny in the fire."_

Now that's some way to look at things… Everyone was silent after master's explanation. He did have a point, but I didn't do it because of that, I did because premonition told me to.

"I think I understand, Soul. As my father used to say 'everything will be fine, even when it's not.' It means that although from our perspective it may look wrong or bad, in the end it leads us to where we should be."

" _That's exactly what it means, Kass."_

"Yeah, but, I… still don't get it. Wouldn't it had been better it Mega took all the family and offered them shelter from the very beginning?" Rhino asked once more.

" _No. Let me give you another example. Everyone knows that butterflies were once caterpillars, and that they get into a cocoon where they have a metamorphosis change, right?"_ This time I heard Bolt asking Mittens what 'metamorphosis' meant. _"Now imagine you see a butterfly in a cocoon, and you want to help it, so you open the cocoon to make it easier for the butterfly to get outside. What happens to that butterfly?"_ Another silence, master had his way of explaining things, but my head was starting to hurt. _"The butterfly will be weak, as simple as that. It's not ready for the outside world, but since you took it out of the cocoon earlier than it should've been, then it won't last. Even though you were trying to help the butterfly, you're condemning it. It won't last because you took away it's chance to learn. If you see someone who needs help and you help more than you should, then in the end you're spoiling, because you're taking away that moment where this entity was meant to learn something. It's the same with Beta._ _At first glance it may seem cruel to send the girl into the heart of a dark organization, but if I asked why you did it, you will tell me that it was the premonition that told you to do it. Now, Beta, I want you to tell me only the good things that came from you being there for so long."_

"Well… I developed immunity to almost all of their abilities, matured a lot, met again with Flor and got to sabotage a lot of things without raising suspicions."

" _Exactly. Without your help we wouldn't have known the location of those to warehouses with negative energy, we wouldn't have taken them down and it wouldn't be safe to talk now. Now, I'm not telling you to stop helping others or stop fighting for what you believe is right. I'm telling you to listen to your premonition, you who can, and the rest I'm asking you to develop one, and then listen to it. If it says 'stop', then the best thing you can do is stop, even if there's a bomb a second away from exploding. The premonition perceives reality in a different way, it won't calculate, it will feel, and that's why it can't fail, unlike the brain that may fail in its calculations. I know it can be very difficult to understand, I had that problem myself. But now I tell you that if you do as your premonition says, you'll never miss a shot. I didn't wake up that day looking for an egg or for a wolf who needed my help, the circumstances brought them to me, and that's why I intervened"_

Another silence, yeah, sure! Man, I just wanted to tell my story, but now everyone's heads are burning, probably as much as mine. I have never looked at it like that, to help someone by not helping… sounds just plain crazy, if I do say so myself.

Finally, one by one everyone turned their glances on me again, giving me to understand that I could finish my story. "So I… where was I? Oh, yeah. After that day everything went normally for a few weeks, until I received the signal for help from her. I ran at full speed to her alley, but she wasn't there. After searching for her for some time I got back to the alley for the puppies. I explained myself to them and then took them home with me. We became a family; after some time she began to go out a couple days per week, a perfect time for Helang and Byte to come and visit me, as I tried for them not to meet my mate. Why? Ask my premonition. So, time passed by and suddenly I was having a talk with her; we had our first and only discussion. She convinced me to return the kids to the humans. You know how they got adopted, the trip with Alpha and Delta and the rest."

"When I came back from the trip I thought that maybe Beta could also train, so I made her an offer, an offer she accepted. Before leaving, however, I had a conversation with her. She said she had found a pack, and fallen in love with another wolf. And that she was sorry. I loved her… she was the love of my life, although I probably didn't expressed it as much as I should have. But I didn't felt sad because of what she told me. I just wanted her to be happy, so if leaving was going to, then so would it be. If she was happy, then I was happy, even if she was happy with someone else. We parted without rancor and I took my remaining daughter to the camp I hadn't visited in long time. After that… well you know what happened." _Ah, I feel a lot better now. Thanks, master, I owe you another one._

* * *

With every past in the circle revealed a new way of seeing things in everyone's minds, a couple of lovebirds decided that it would be a good time to reveal their relationship to everyone else.

 _Okay, so now let's leave the pasts behind and get to train. I'll go check on Penny._

"Hey, guys, before training, I think Mittens and I have something important to tell all of you." Bolt commented, and then stepped aside to let his mate say her favorite phrase.

* * *

 **Yeah, hi there... I'm sorry, once again I failed to give in last's week chapter, and after that I think I'm gonna have to lower my rhythm for one chapter every two weeks, and you deserve to know why. You see, it's true that I was in exams, but I've also started to work on another fanfic, one in spanish, that I'm doing with a friend of mine; working on both stories at the same time was just a disaster... I didn't got one chapter done while trying for neither of them, so I've decided I'll work one week on this story, and the next one I'll work on the other one, so I'll be able to keep posting on both stories. Once again, thanks for reading, thanks for having me patience, and of course special thanks to Basbon for still supporting me and leaving his comment on every chapter until now. I've got nothing more to say, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	21. Training

Chapter 21: Training

"We're mates!" Mittens told the group as soon as everyone was paying attention. Rhino and Flor already knew, as for the others, reactions didn't wait. Soul's three students congratulated them, Kass didn't seemed surprised an merely bowed his head briefly, contrary to Alpha, Beta and Delta, who were all open-mouthed; Jonathan was a little surprised as well, while Peep got up and began to run happily around the two as he congratulated them over and over again.

Once congratulations were over, they all parted and began to prepare for some training, excepting Peep, who lay down and closed his eyes. Meanwhile, Penny was still concentrating while receiving instructions from Soul.

" _Okay, now I want you to tell me what time it is."_

"Um… okay. I think it must be…"

 _"Stop right there. I don't want you to make calculations. I want you to stop using your brain and start using your heart, stop thinking, start feeling. Now tell me what time it is."_

"Nine thirty," Penny said almost immediately.

 _"Nine with fifteen. Now tell me what you would have told me if you had calculated."_

"I was thinking about ten."

 _"And there's your difference. You are working very well for a first day. Give me a second, we'll try our priority."_

Penny didn't understand at first, but seconds later Bolt came to her and sat. _"Bolt's now going to tell you something, you'll try to tell me what he told you. Don't try with 'hello' or so, it's not likely that he'll tell you that. Feel the message, and what he wants to transmit to you."_

"Okay," Penny answered, trying to understand what she had heard.

 _"Bolt, say something to Penny,"_ Bolt barked once. _"That'll do. Did you understand what he said?"_

"Not one bit," Penny sighed. "I really want to believe this is possible, but I've been taught my whole life that it is not."

 _"Yes, I was there once. You'll have to unlearn what you know."_

"Right," Bolt commented. "You haven't told us your past, Soul."

 _"That's a story for another time, Bolt."_

"What did he say?"

 _"Nothing. Thanks, Bolt, you can go back with the rest. I'll go in a moment."_

Bolt got up and left Penny with Soul once more. _"Look, I know it's difficult to unlearn something you're too used to see, something you've believed your whole life. But it's not impossible… difficulty for this will be inversely proportional to the strength of your will. For now, take a break, you've been working more than one hour on this."_

"Thanks, Soul." Then Penny sat on the bench, she had a slight pain in her head from the effort she had been putting on her activity.

In the meantime Mega and Byte were sparring; almost every time they did it ended up as a tie, for their forces were exactly the same but opposite, however, this time they were limited not to use any super abilities, in an attempt of staying hidden. Peep was still lying down, Kass was talking with Helang, and Jonathan with Rhino, Delta with Alpha, and Beta with Flor; Bolt was thinking, with Mittens at his side, both of them silent.

 _"Everyone, come here, let's see how good are your combat abilities."_ Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and formed a circle once more. _"Bolt, come to the front please; Peep, you too."_

"I don't think…"

 _"It's okay, Jonathan,"_ Soul interrupted. _"Byte knows how to heal deadly injuries in a matter of minutes. If anyone were to get hurt, she can take care of them. Mega can help, too."_

Jonathan didn't seem to like the idea, but finally he sat down and said, "Alright."

Both dogs that Soul had called out stepped into the middle of the circle, the rest of them stepped back to give them more space. _"Okay, this is simple. You just have to immobilize your opponent against the floor for three seconds, and that's it. No biting, try not to scratch, and without any special attacks. Whoever wins two out of three is the winner."_ Soul instructed.

Bolt didn't seem eager to attack Peep, after all, the little guy was innocent and pure, and that was just how he had earned everyone's hearts. When the shepherd turned to look at the half-bred dog, this last one had still his typical smile, but his eyes were different.

"Don't hold back… Bolt, I want to… learn… defend me's-self." He said with determination in his voice.

"Okay," Bolt agreed.

 _"Very well, you two, ready?"_ A couple of "yes" were heard. _"Alright then, start!"_

Peep immediately ran towards Bolt at an impressive speed, leaving everyone in awe. Bolt, who by then was again sunk in his thoughts, barely got time to react and avoid the lunge by moving to the side. Then he tried to counterattack by kicking Peep's side, but the little dog had already turned and blocked the kick with a paw, seconds before punching Bolt with the other, sending him to the floor. Peep then jumped on top of Bolt and kept him there until the three seconds had passed.

 _"Peep wins this round."_

Peep got away from Bolt and let him get up. Mittens was the first one to be on his side. "Are you all right, Bolt? What happened?" She asked.

"Yes… I'm fine, Mittens," The dog answered before turning to see his opponent. "How did you do that?"

"Dunno," Peep answered as happily as always. "Ran as fast… as I could, and… punched… like that, too."

 _"I'll explain. This is what I wanted to show. Does anyone remember what Peep was doing after the first circle broke up?"_

"He leaned on the floor and closed his eyes." Jonathan said.

 _"That's exactly what he did, Jonathan. But that was just for the eye to see. When Peep did so, he relaxed, he calmed his mind. Unconsciously, he began to absorb energy from his surroundings. When he began to pay attention to his actions, that extra energy was spent, giving him that speed, those reflexes and that strength; however, he didn't spend much time on it, so he probably already ran out of extra energy._ " Soul explained, and got a small silence for answer. _"It is also true that someone has his head in the clouds right now. Bolt!"_

The shepherd was startled by Soul's call, he was actually sunk in his thoughts again. "Wha-What's wrong?"

 _"What are you thinking about, Bolt? You've been like this since we finished talking."_

"Well, I was thinking about what you said, Soul, the 'helping someone by not helping' thing. I didn't quite understand it; I don't feel it's the right thing to do."

There was a silence for a few seconds before Soul answered, _"Then leave it. What I told you then was for you to understand why Mega did what he did; I don't intend to make you listen and do everything I tell you. Yes, it is a valid way of seeing things, there are those who practice it, such as myself, and sometimes you have no choice, but it's not the only valid one, nor you should practice it just because I do. Besides, I'm sure you're not the only one who didn't understand."_

"True, I got why Mega did what he did, but not the rest." Rhino stated.

"Neither did me." Mittens added.

"Nor me."

"Same."

"More or less."

"What Peep said."

 _"See? And although the rest of them have understood what I meant, they wouldn't turn their backs on you if you were in trouble."_

"True. I'm aware that it works like that sometimes, but I wouldn't let you sink on any trouble if I can help it."

"You said it, Kass."

 _"So just ignore it, Bolt. If you don't feel it right, then don't even bother thinking about it; follow the path you've taken so far and everything will turn out just well. After all, what must happen, will."_

Bolt stayed silent for a moment or two. "Thanks, Soul."

 _"You're welcome. Now, can you continue? You still have two more rounds to go."_

"What do you say, buddy?" Bolt asked Peep, whose smile just grew a little.

"Let's… do it."

 _"Very well. Give them some space, please."_ Everyone returned to their places. _"Ready?"_

"Yes."

"Sure."

 _"Go ahead!"_

This time both started to run towards the other one. As Soul had said, Peep's speed was back to normal. When they were near the other, Peep jumped, aiming to fall on top of Bolt, but he slid on the grass to evade the half-bred. Bolt ended in Peep's side of the circle, and Peep on Bolt's. The small guy took the impulse to stand on his forepaws and try to scratch Bolt. However, before he got the chance, the shepherd threw himself directly at his opponent's chest, just the way he had done with the shadow and the Pitbull. Peep fell to the ground, and Bolt fell on top of him, keeping him from moving until the time was over.

 _"Bolt wins this round."_

"Good… moves."

"Thanks, Peep, you did very well too."

 _"Can you both continue?"_ Both of them nodded. _"Get ready, then."_ Both dogs took distance once more. _"Ready?"_

"Yes."

"Same."

 _"Go on!"_

Once more, both ran towards the other. However, this time Peep stopped dead and took a step back once Bolt jumped towards him, making the shepherd miss and fall to the ground; then Peep began to try and jump over him, while Bolt spun while on the floor, avoiding Peep's attacks. The half-bred got tired eventually, giving Bolt enough time to get up. With both of them standing again, they got face to face, stood up on their forepaws and began scratching each other.

Slowly the wounds on both bodies began to multiply, and neither was willing to give it up. Finally Peep got back on all fours, causing Bolt to fail on his next attack and then hit him head-on, sending Bolt to the ground once more. However, when Peep jumped towards Bolt, he took advantage of that impulse and turned Peep around. Bolt ended up on top of Peep.

 _"Bolt wins!"_

Bolt got off Peep and helped him get up, then shook a paw with him. "Well done," He said.

"Same."

Then Peep went with Byte to get his wounds attended, while Bolt went with Mega. Jonathan was waiting for Peep.

"It was amazing, buddy. How do you feel?"

"I'm… fine, John. Thanks… for asking." Peep answered with a smile as Byte placed a paw over his wounds. "It was fun."

"Of course it was, besides it is important that you know to defend yourself." The she-wolf added.

Meanwhile, Bolt was talking to Mega. "Really, where do you get those moves from?"

"I don't know, it just… came to me, the idea of turning with his own strength."

"Bolt!" Mittens ran up to him and hugged him, gesture that the dog returned.

"How was I?" He asked.

"Just like a super dog." She replied with a smile.

Once they were both recovered, the circle formed once more.

 _"Okay, between siblings now. Alpha, Delta, please come forward."_ Both of them got in the middle and stood face to face, no more than three feet away. _"Same rules, two out of three and leave your opponent pinned to the ground; don't bite and try not to scratch as much as the last two did. Ready?"_

"Yes," Both of them answered at the same time.

 _"Okay, then… Go!"_

Alpha immediately charged towards her brother at full speed. Delta, however, just moved to one side to avoid her attack, and she passed by. When she tried once more to do her attack and ram Delta, he dodged again, but this time she ended up crashing against a tree. Alpha was stunned by the crash, and Delta just pushed her a little for her to fall down.

 _"Delta wins."_ Soul announced. _"Can you continue?"_

"I really doubt it. She hit her head very hard. If she had rammed me instead of the tree, I'd probably be lying on the floor right now." Delta commented while looking at his sister, who was still on the floor.

Byte got to where they were and placed Alpha on her back. "Give me a few minutes to heal her." She said as she got away a little.

 _"Okay, with one accident is enough. Anyone else want to give it a try?"_

For a few seconds nobody spoke. Finally Kass stood up and said, "I'll do it."

"I want to," Jonathan said almost at the same time.

"Oh, great. Kass and Jonathan, this is going to be good." Rhino commented to nobody in particular.

 _"Please, step inside the circle. You know the rules; no bites, don't overdo it with the scratches."_ Both nodded and stood firm, looking at the opponent. _"Begin."_

Unlike the previous combats, neither of them ran towards the other. Both stood in their places, watching the moves of the other one, analyzing everything. Kass moved first, swiftly climbing a tree and moving in between the branches; Jonathan just followed him with his eyes. The spectators couldn't say the same, for the cat had disappeared from their view. Was he standing still somewhere? Or moving without making noise? They couldn't tell, only Jonathan kept moving his eyes as if he knew exactly where the cat was.

Suddenly, the dog jumped back, just before Kass fell at full speed, claws extended, over the spot where Jonathan had been. He took advantage of that second and rammed the cat, who couldn't dodge him. Instead, Kass sunk his claws in Jonathan's chest for a second or two, before letting go and running towards a tree once more. Before the dog could take his time to locate him, the cat fell on his back and began to scratch repeatedly. Jonathan stayed for some seconds like that until he had an idea. He threw himself backwards, landing on his back and crushing the poor cat with all of his weight, but sticking the cat's claws deeper into his skin.

A howl of pain and a drowned meow were heard at the same time, before Jonathan stood up again, with Kass' claws still nailed to his back. By then both of them looked tired, but didn't stop fighting. Kass quickly let go of Jonathan and ran for a tree once more, but this time the Alaskan malamute grabbed the cat by the tail and threw him against the floor. Before he could immobilize Kass, however, the cat kicked one of Jonathan's front legs and ran away passing under his stomach, not without punching it.

Jonathan recovered as fast as he could, but by the time he turned around, Kass was already falling on his back again with his claws out; however this time, when Jonathan threw himself backwards, Kass let go of him and slipped in between his hind legs, then swiftly gave the Alaskan malamute a head butt in the stomach, throwing him backwards to the floor. Kass quickly got on top of him and punched his stomach, not stopping once until the three seconds had passed.

 _"Kass wins! And it was a great fight… I think it's fair to say there won't be a second round, you're both injured."_

Kass got off Jonathan and helped him to his paws. "You are certainly strong, no wonder you had a reputation out there," The Alaskan malamute said.

"Don't mention it; you're the strongest opponent I've faced. Something good came out of those hunting days, huh?"

Mega and Byte approached the two of them to heal their wounds, but there were too many. _"Let me help you there."_ Soul offered. A small air flow became present, moving everyone's fur. When it left, both Kass and Jonathan were totally healed.

"Thanks, Soul" They said in unison.

 _"You're welcome. I think that was enough for today, unless someone else wants to participate."_ A silence. _"Okay, you can relax now, play, anything. I'll be back soon, if you need me."_

Before anything else happened, Bolt's stomach roared, catching everyone's attention.

"I think someone's hungry," Mittens said to him in a flirtatious tone.

Bolt couldn't help blushing at the comment. "Y-Yes, I think so."

"Maybe Penny brought some food with her."

"Maybe, Rhino, remember that she packed a lot of things before we left." Flor reminded them.

"True, let's go and check. You guys coming?"

"Yes… I go… for food."

"Peep's going, so am I." Jonathan added.

"I'll go, too, besides, I reminded you that Penny could've brought food."

"We'll stay here," Beta commented. "Penny doesn't know us."

"Same for us. Besides, seeing just two wolves walk around in the park may cause… a little trouble." Mega added.

"Okay, guys." Rhino then beckoned Peep to bend his head so he could climb on top of it. "We won't be long."

The group that had gone out with Penny that morning returned to her. The girl was still on the bench, although her head didn't hurt anymore, she was still tired from what she had been doing. When she saw everyone coming back, imagining what they could be looking for, she took something out of her backpack. "Alright everyone, if you're hungry, there's food here."

As soon as the girl left the food within reach, everyone but Jonathan started to eat. The Alaskan malamute sat down besides the bench and stared into nothing in particular.

"Could you do me a favor, John?" Penny asked him, getting his attention. "Could you tell me something?"

"I guess so," The dog answered and then thought for a moment. "This park is beautiful."

Penny said nothing for several seconds. "No, I don't understand yet. I guess I'll have to work with it daily if I want any real progress soon."

Jonathan turned to Penny's pets. "What's she talking about?"

Rhino finished chewing a piece and swallowed. "Soul said that Penny was going to participate too, so she has to learn to talk to us to make it easier."

"I see," He answered as he lay back to wait for the others to finish.

Twenty minutes later there were no traces of food left and they were all heading back with the rest of the group. When they arrived they saw Soul's kids lying down, two on the ground and one on a branch, with their eyes closed; the Labrador retrievers were talking to each other. Rhino, when he saw the wolves lying, tried to approach Mega, but being a couple of inches away from him something stopped him; the hamster had hit something that was around the wolf.

"Energy shield," Mega said without even opening his eyes. "It will protect you from all contact while active, like the one master used when he fought the shadow squadron that was after Penny."

"Be-awesome, could you show me how to?"

"Step one, relax. Come, lie down and close your eyes. Stop thinking about anything, empty your mind." Mega instructed, and Rhino did as he was told.

Flor was nearby them and saw all of it. "May I accompany you?"

"Sure, Flor," Mega answered, his eyes still closed.

Rhino and Flor joined the practice that Soul's kids were doing. Bolt, Mittens, Jonathan and Peep approached the siblings.

"Hi, guys."

"Hi there."

Another circle formed as Jonathan asked, "Where's Kass?"

"After you guys left he climbed a tree and we lost sight of him." Alpha answered, with some dismay in her voice.

Somebody noticed her tone. "Are you… good?"

The Labrador forced a smile. "Yes, I'm fine."

Peep approached Alpha. "Not true…" He said, "Something happened to you. What?"

Alpha stood up. "Do you mind if I talk to him in private?"

"Not at all, but don't stray too far from here." Jonathan answered.

"Thanks."

Alpha and Peep got a little separated from the circle. "What's the matter?" Bolt asked to her siblings.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think it has to do with two things. First, she doesn't like to remember out past, she feels guilty that she couldn't take care of us when she is the oldest. The other one, I think, has to do with the combat training results."

"But I lost, too, and so did Peep."

"But not like that. Peep lost in round three, and you fought an incredible fight against Kass, being both awesome strategists."

"Oh, now I see."

"The reason why she goes around reminding me all the time that she is the oldest is to try and hide… or amend perhaps, the things that happened. She has tried to take the lead so many times, but generally I end up taking care of her." Delta stated.

"And why would she want to talk with Peep?"

"Maybe because he was the first of you guys to notice. I think we should let them talk." Delta closed his eyes. "According to dad and aunt Byte, closing your eyes and relaxing helps a lot with this crazy stuff; I guess I'll give it a shot."

Beta imitated her brother, as did Jonathan; before Bolt could, Mittens asked him with a touch to pull away from them to talk a little.

"Bolt?"

"Yes?"

She was silent for a few seconds. "What… what do you think about all this?"

Bolt was surprised by that question. "Why that question?"

"It's just…" She laid her head on his chest. "I'm just worried about what's going to happen. I'm worried that they could get hurt, or that something could happen to you."

The shepherd thought on her words for a moment. "I think they all know what they're getting into. Considering that they heard everything we had and stayed around… well, it would only be a matter of training and improving."

"But I'm not comfortable with this; you would be willing to protect me, right?" Bolt nodded immediately. "But… but if it were the other way around… I could never protect you, I don't even have claws." Mittens said as she lowered her head. "And I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you." Unable to help it, some tears began to fall from her eyes.

Once more, Bolt had no words to reassure Mittens. He kept thinking about a minute until he got an idea.

"I don't know what to say to make you feel better, Mittens; maybe she could help us."

"She?" The cat asked disconcertedly, turning to meet his eyes.

"She," Bolt repeated. "She has always helped me. Whenever I find something of the real world that I don't yet understand, she explains it to me. Whenever I feel down, she stays beside me to make me happy. I met her on a rather… aggressive way, but it was only a misunderstanding. With time, we grew fond on each other, and she took me out of a false life and gave me a real one. I know I can count on her, and I hope she knows she can count on me. She gave joy to my life." Bolt then noticed that Mittens was starting to smile. "And she is my first and only love, with her black fur and beautiful green eyes. Do you know her?" He asked playing.

The cat's smile now wouldn't disappear. "And… what would _she_ do in such a situation?"

The dog smiled as well. "I don't know. I was just about to ask her."

Mittens was silent for a few seconds, and then rested her head on Bolt's chest again. "She says that she has to think about it."

Bolt rested his head on top of Mittens'. "Tell her to consider the possibility of her being a pillar. Or, in any case, that everything will be fine…"

"Even when it's not."

"Kass would say so." Bolt said before they both closed their eyes and snuggled up together.

* * *

 **Hi there guys, this was it for chapter 21. Next one will be in two weeks, and it'll be the last one with the day in the park. Once more, thanks for supporting me, thanks for having me patience, and stay tuned, 'cause the best is yet to come. Special thanks to Basbon, who is still supporting and leaving his comment on every chapter so far, and thanks everyone for reading. See you in a couple of weeks, nos vemos luego!**


	22. Helps and favors

Chapter 22: Helps and favors

While everyone in the group was still with their eyes closed, at the same time Bolt and Mittens were talking, at a slight distance from the rest but in other direction, Peep and Alpha were talking.

"Okay… what's wrong?"

The she-dog took her time before answering, so much that before doing so she made sure that Peep was still there. And there he was, smiling at her.

"W-Where do you want me to start from?"

"From the start… of course."

Alpha chuckled at Peep's response. "Okay," She said as she lay down on the floor. Peep imitated her. "For starters, all of this pasts thing brought me really bad memories. I don't like to think about what happened then, I don't like remembering that being the oldest I was the most scared one, that I couldn't protect my siblings, and that it was Gamma, one of the youngest, who did my role in there." Alpha paused when she saw a change in Peep's expression, as if he were ready to say something.

"Why… you stop?" He asked.

"I think there's something you want to tell me," Was her answer.

"Yes… but it's… for later. When you… finished talking."

Alpha was feeling more and more comfortable with Peep, with every sentence he said he would make everyone around him feel that way. "Since Delta and I found a home I set myself the goal of taking care of him, since he's younger; but it's pretty obvious that the roles are always turned around. He is more mature, faster, stronger…"

"Stop. If you… you can-not see your… own qualities, how can you… expect for others to… see them?"

Alpha turned to see Peep. "What?"

"What I said… You have just mentioned… Delta's qualities. What about yours?" Alpha said nothing. "Come on… don't tell me… you don't have any qualities."

"No, but I… I never thought about them." Alpha admitted.

"Then I'll help you; you are intelligent, given… willing to care… for your brother, determined… and responsible, or at least… you try to be. You are pretty and…"

"What did you say?"

"You're… pretty. Or you don't think so?"

The Labrador retriever blushed at that comment, since it was the first time she was called 'pretty' "And… something else?" She asked shyly.

"It's nice… to be with you. And I heard Kass… Kass mention that you are… more agile than Delta."

Alpha went silent and to thinking for a while, she had never thought about her qualities and Peep had just mentioned six or seven in less than a minute. "Th-Thanks, Peep."

"You're welcome… But that's not all. I see it… in your eyes… there's… more."

Alpha sighed in defeat; Peep was quite insightful after all. "You're right, there's more. I feel down because of how my combat training ended."

"But… I lost too," Peep pointed out.

"But you lost fighting; I didn't even touch Delta before he had me on the floor." She lowered her head as her voice began to sound broken. "I didn't even think of a strategy, I went with brute force and that's why I hit the tree. That's not how the Alpha of a pack behaves."

Peep just kept his smile. "Don't worry."

Alpha lifted her head and looked straight at him. "How do you expect me not to worry when we are getting into something very big and someone younger than me defeated me without having to touch me? How should I not worry when everything I try to do ends up wrong? How do you want me not to worry when I have to drag the weight of my past every day I wake up!?"

Peep didn't take away his small smile. "You know? Somewhere I heard… there are two kinds of problems: Those with solution… and… those without it. But… it doesn't matter… what type of problem it is… worrying it's a waste of time." She was going to talk, but he continued. "Now, tell me… what of your problems… have solution."

"None," She answered in a moody way.

"Come on… seriously. Your combat… can improve… your maturity… can improve. You can… learn to plan better… and it can go better that way. Like that, you should stop worrying… and taking action instead… that way you'll improve in those things." Alpha was surprised by what Peep had said, without removing his faint smile. "Now… your problem without solution… would be your past. You can… not change the past… and if you did, we wouldn't be here… So it's simpler if just… don't worry, waste no time… and energy… on things you can't change. Better to learn… and not repeat the mistake… like Soul said."

Alpha stayed open-mouthed for all she'd heard. Inside her something flared, a spark of motivation to carry out Peep's advice.

"S-So I shouldn't worry. If it has a solution, I better go and solve it, and if doesn't, then I shouldn't waste time worrying." Peep nodded to her affirmation. "Thanks, Peep, I feel much better now."

"You're… welcome. Let's go back… with others."

Peep started to get up, but Alpha stopped him. "Why don't we stay here for a while?"

"Okay," He lay down again. Moments later Alpha settled besides him and laid her head on his side. Peep, not knowing what else to do, rested his head on his paws and closed his eyes.

"Thank you," She whispered before closing her eyes as well.

After the two conversations were over, someone on a tree climbed up to the top to lie down.

"Uh… hello," He started talking, apparently with no one. "It's me again, you know, Kass. I know I haven't tried this for a long time, but I need help, or rather, they need help and I want you to help me help them. Could you lend a paw to Mittens and Alpha? I mean, surely you can, can't you? You've been up there for quite some time." A branch creaked near the cat. "Are you listening to me?" Another branch creaked. "Great, so… can you do me this favor, please? I know you could, you've trained from over there for a long time." Kass paid attention, but there was no sound this time. "Okay, one for 'no', two for 'yes'."

For some seconds there was no change, then a bird flew over the tree where the cat was. Moments later two feathers fell on top of his head. Kass took them and looked at them closely for a while, before realizing what they meant. "Thank you, dad!" He shouted into the air before descending back to where he had been lying.

Some time passed before there was any change in the group. Everyone was lying with their eyes closed; Helang, Mega and Byte with Rhino and Flor; Beta, Delta and Jonathan together; Peep was with Alpha, Bolt with Mittens and Kass was still on the tree. While they were all quiet, someone on some other place was working on something.

Soul's P.O.V.

Heh, I'm beginning to like it here. What, where am I? As humans we give it a lot of names: heaven, the universe, the after-life, the origin, the force and so on. It is soothing here, you know, everything is peace and there's every soul that has left the physical world. I've come across some souls that choose to go back to earth and be born again. I may do so myself, after dealing with this; right now they need my help. I just hope I don't have to respond for what I've been doing.

I don't know exactly how to describe it, probably in physical it would be 'I approached', but I can't approach anything, since I don't have a physical body. The point is that I established communication with one of the superiors, a soul who has lived many times and harbor wisdom far superior to the one I possess. Before I could tell him what I wanted, he talked to me. "The answer is no. You know that."

"But you didn't even give me the chance to ask."

"Maybe because you've asked for it at least ten times."

I stayed quiet. I've been dead for less than a month and I already asked for it ten times? Wow, I have to find myself a hobby, but it would be a little complicated being in… being here.

He went back into 'talking'. "You know? With all the energy we have invested in what you ask of us, we could have done many important things both here and there. Not just because of the energy you need to maintain a stable communication, but because of things like the healing you used on the cat and the dog. You have consumed, in less than a month, more energy than many souls who have been here for years." I suppose it was a scolding, but his voice sounded so full of peace that I couldn't find that side of the talk.

"I'm aware of it. However, you know it's not a waste. When they discover the truth about the pillar and take advantage of its power, all the energy I'm spending will come back. There won't be anyone producing negative energy in mass quantities."

"It is one of many possible futures. But should not have influence in the physical world, you're spending energy in both worlds to maintain your connection."

"That's why I'm here; I want to…"

"No."

"It's important, the whole world could be in danger." Okay, it's an exaggeration, but if we don't stop them maybe they could cause considerable damage.

"You know that the planet can take care of itself, even without the intervention of agents from the light. If darkness went too far, the planet itself would stop it."

"I'm aware of that, but I've followed this philosophy all my life. We cannot let them advance and make innocents suffer. Besides, the pillar of light it's a response mad by the planet to keep the darkness at bay." _Check!_

"It may sound 'cruel', but what if all those begin have to suffer? You told your team by _yourself_ that what must happen, will happen. And about that check of yours, you know the pillar could train the guest itself. All you do is accelerate that process to prevent more losses."

 _Well… not much I can do against my own word, and his arguments crush mine. I suppose there's no way to convince him to give me access; after all, there's much I still have to learn, much that I still don't know._

"You've been granted access." The superior told me suddenly.

"What?"

"Enlightenment consists of knowing how much you don't know. 'I know that I know nothing', as it was said once. You have just admitted that you still have much to learn, even after the knowledge you already possess."

"Great… so now I just…"

"Visualize what you want to know. A library will show up with thousands of 'books' containing what you seek for. As if you were reading, the knowledge will get to you. But now you have to know that you must filter the information you get from here; there are things that you can't tell your physical friends, or you'll lose your access. After all, you know the information in the records of akashia is exclusive to whoever gets access to them. None of your physical friends has that right yet, so they can't be told everything you find here."

"Then I'll just tell them what I'm allowed to tell. I guess I'll feel something whenever I can't say a thing."

"That's right."

I cut communication with the superior and began to inquire into the records. There's so much to investigate, but I can't tell everything I see here. Man… I'll probably be busy for a while.

* * *

On the other hand, in an abandoned building near the center of the city a shadow was about to begin training new recruits. The new ones were formed in some lines, about twenty of them.

"Very well, rookies, I'm gonna show you how to operate in the field." It drew a breath and pulled out its chest, trying to look impressive. "Some of you will get a guest for your missions, others will have only shadow ability to do so. There's no way you can know if you'll have a guest or not, so you'll all have to work hard to improve your skills until the trials. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." They all answered in unison.

"Okay, we'll start with theory, first lesson." The shadow went on. "Shadows are born of an accumulation of negative energy wherever it occurs. In order to grow we need more negative energy, which we extract from light beings through their somber emotions, like anger, doubt or fear; especially fear. We work in cooperation with other shadows to achieve a common good, but we are not out of danger. Out there, there are beings of light that, like us, polish their skills to become potential threats to our integrity, murdering us and depriving us from our food. These beings are not to be underestimated; I myself have fought them and can testify so. Now, I want you to use your shadow brain and tell me how to defeat an opponent that's stronger than you." There was a silence of some seconds, before a small shadow raised its hand. "Spit it out already."

"You use intelligence, sir. If you cannot beat an opponent in combat, you look for some weakness in their life: a relative, a friend, something to blackmail them."

The shadow smiled darkly. "Well done, little one." Then it addressed the group. "Your reward for doing a fine job here will be a name." The shadow waved its hand for the little one to come forward. "And your name will be… Shade."

The little one looked up proudly, excited for having a name. "I am Shade!"

The rest of the rookies began to clap and shout, celebrating the event that had just occurred. "Shade, Shade, Shade!"

All that was happening was monitored by someone sitting in a worn chair near an old desk with some marks in its surface. Seeing that the shadow was naming the rookies, he smiled to himself. "I hope you don't get to like them. In the end, you're all expendable; I just need enough energy for phase three. Everything else is unimportant." He said with a somber grim on his face.

In the meantime, a couple of hours had passed in the park. Mittens had fallen asleep cuddling with Bolt, who was awake but with his eyes closed as well. Alpha and Peep were both asleep; Mega Byte and Helang were still meditating along with Flor; Rhino had gotten up and gone with Delta, Beta and Jonathan, who had also left the practice and were chatting again. Kass had been running and jumping, exercising through the trees until he had found Penny. Now he was playing with her, somewhat ashamed that he hadn't resisted the ball of yarn the girl had offered him.

Slowly a voice became present in everyone's minds. _"Hi there, everyone."_

Everyone stopped what they were doing to pay attention to Soul. To the ones that were still asleep, they only heard his voice faintly in dreams.

Bolt was the first one to answer Soul. "Hey, Soul, do you know where Halloween comes from? Mittens already explained me what it is and how it works, but I would like to do why humans do that."

" _Of course, Bolt,"_ Soul answered. _"You see, Halloween is a tradition that goes way back to the Celtic culture, about three thousand years ago. During this time of the year, specifically on October 31, the Celts celebrated the new year; for that very reason, they believed that on this day the veil separating the living world and the death world was weakened, allowing the dead to walk among the living. To keep away evil spirits and demons the Celts disguised themselves as monsters in an attempt to go unnoticed. As it was believed that demons liked to eat children, their kids were disguised as well. Later, the houses were disguised too, as cemeteries or haunted places with the same purpose. Today's Halloween wanders a lot from this idea, and it includes many other traditions from different eras and cultures; however, this is the basis of the festival."_

"Thanks, Soul."

" _You're welcome, Bolt. Now, Mega, Byte, Helang, you will never believe this."_ The three left their meditation and payed attention to their master. _"I've got access."_

"You got what?" Both wolves asked, jumping.

" _I managed to get access to the records of akashia."_ Soul repeated.

As the three students finished digesting the news, Beta walked to them and asked, "What are the records of akashia?"

"You see those records…" Byte began, before being interrupted by her brother.

"I'll tell them!"

"You interrupted me, Mega."

"Still, I want to tell them."

"What would be the difference if I did and not you?" The she-wolf asked.

Mega went silent for a few moments. "That I… would tell them."

"Stop it," Helang intervened. "I think the master's the best choice to tell them. He's been in there after all."

" _Okay. In short, the records of akashia are somewhat similar to a giant library or to the internet. Those are archives or records of the entire history of the planet; every technology, civilization from its birth and 'till its fall, relevant and irrelevant events, everything is there. The thing is that to gain access to them you've got to place your mind at peace, something hard to achieve. I already got access to them, but I can't tell you everything I've found, there's a protection for most of the information that regulates what I can tell you and what I can't. With all that, I hope the information will help us in various things, like helping you develop your abilities. My kids will assure you, the first ability is the hardest to develop; once it's done, the process for developing the rest is much simpler. For your first ability I would recommend premonition, but it's your choice."_

"I wanted to tell them…" Mega said after a few seconds.

The rest of the day continued without relevant events. Penny ate in the park, just like everyone who had gone out with her. During the afternoon the circle was formed once more, but this time to tell stories, fun jokes, bad jokes and played, having a good time for all. Soul's kids, along with Beta, were the first ones to say good-bye, since they had to return to the camp. One hour and a half later, a whistle was heard in the park, marking Alpha Delta and Kass their time to go back. The group that had gone with Penny in the morning played a little more before she called them to go home, though it was early, this time the way back was on foot.

Back home Diego thanked Penny again for taking Jonathan and Peep to the park, to what she replied that it had been nothing and then went home with Bolt, Mittens, Rhino and Flor. Everyone was tired, so they dined with the day's events as a topic for conversations and then went to sleep. By the time Penny was on her bed, everyone was too, but there were still some things that concerned a couple of females in the group.

Mittens' P.O.V.

Once more I was in the house with my Bolt, lying next to him when everything turned gray again. So I was dreaming.

"Seriously? Haven't you tried the blackmail once?"

The voice that answered me was not from a shadow, neither familiar. It was friendly in its tone. "I'm not one of them."

"Then who are you?" I asked a little surprised.

"I'm… an old friend, of a friend of yours. He asked me to help you."

"Help me with what?"

"It has to do with the dog you're sleeping with."

Then I understood. "Are you going to help me protect Bolt?"

I heard a chuckle form the voice. "Not exactly. I know you fear not being able to protect him, so I'll give you a push. But you'll have to find out by yourself what it was. When you wake up my help will already have done its part and it will be permanent."

That left me confused. "Can you do things like Soul?"

"More or less. Your friend spends energy, a lot of it, on what he does. I'm only going to give you what belongs to you back. You may wake up, I'll move some pieces."

My curiosity won; this voice sounded so familiar and not at the same time and it was driving me crazy. "Could you show me who you are?"

There was no answer. In front of me a small flash appeared and began to grow, taking the shape of a cat; it had no color, it was only the outline of it. "I was once the father of your friend Kass." He told me once it had finished appearing. "However, it's unlikely that we'll meet again, since I don't tend to interact with the physical world. I just did what my son asked me to. Take this little gift from me."

Before I could ask a light covered everything and woke me up. I was still in Penny's room, with Bolt's paws around me. What kind of help was Kass' dad talking about? I was too tired to find out; I would check on the next day. For the night, I rested my head on my dog's chest and closed my eyes again.

Alpha's P.O.V.

I hadn't been able to sleep at all. I had been walking in circles since we came back. I feel something strange inside me; what Peep told me in the park really motivated me to change some things, but I didn't know where to start.

"You can start by not trying to solve everything on your own," I heard a voice say just after I thought that.

I paid attention and tried to sound strong, though my voice broke. "W-Who are you?"

"I won't hurt you, a friend of yours sent me to help you."

"Peep sent you?" I don't know why I thought of him, I have other friends.

"No," He answered. "It doesn't matter who sent me, I'm going to help you. But for my help to work I need you to fall asleep. You want to grow stronger, braver, more responsible and mature to take care of your brother, to become an alpha." I nodded. "Okay, I'll give you a little boost, a small one, but it'll help. But I want you to remember that you don't have to carry the whole world on your shoulders." I was going to answer, but he didn't stop. "The fact that you receive help doesn't mean that you cannot do it, it means that you're not alone. You can count on your siblings and friends to help you, don't try and solve it all on your own."

"Thank you… sir." It was a valid point after all; the alpha usually has the support from the pack. Though I wasn't the alpha of anything, I counted on their help.

"You're welcome. Now, go to sleep or it won't work. And remember that it's valid to need help. Go practice your skills and before you know it you'll be a great alpha."

I was already lying down, almost asleep, and I only had energy to thank him once more. "Thank you…"

* * *

 **Hey there. First of all, sorry: the chapter was meant for yesterday, but my internet crashed and got just fixed, so yeah. Second... this is it, chapter 22, and the interesting things are about to start, you know, so have me a little more patience and you'll see it yourselves. And finally, in response to a review I received, from tOSdude: Don't worry man, I'll translate the other story as well. I just have to go one by one to keep myself focused in translating. I want you guys to be able to read what I wrote, so I'll translate it, eventually. Now, thanks everyone for reading, special thanks to Basbon, tOSdude and the guest who reviewed well... for reviewing, and I'll leave next chapter in a couple of weeks, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	23. Boosts, interference and a shadow charge

Chapter 23: Boosts, interference and a shadow charge

After the light finished implanting its aid in Alpha, someone communicated with it. "Hi."

The light recognized that voice immediately. "Whatever you're thinking, the answer is no."

"Oh, c'mon, is everyone going to tell me no in advance always?"

"Considering what is heard about what you do and the amount of energy you spend on both worlds, yes."

There was a silence of a few seconds. "I need you to do me a favor," this stranger asked.

"I just told you no."

"I need you to so the same you did with them two with the rest of the group."

"Which part of 'no' is not clear to you?" Then the light thought for a moment. "Why do you want me to give them a boost?"

"Because it'll do them good. They all have blockades right now, and I doubt they'll get over them in just two weeks, especially the girl. It's the only favor I'll ask you."

"You don't know that, many things could happen."

"Fine, then I won't ask you for another favor in a long, long time."

The light finally subsided after a few minutes. "All right, but not to all of them. Choose three, maybe four."

"But…"

"Three or nothing," The light interrupted.

"Okay…" There was a small silence. "First of all, the girl. Bolt and Rhino, too."

"Who'll be the fourth one?"

Soul thought about it for a moment. "Your choice."

"What's the name of the she-dog living currently with them?"

"Flor."

"She'll be the fourth one. And I hope you keep your word."

"I will."

* * *

Everyone was sleeping in Penny's room, there was no sound at all until Rhino suddenly woke up abruptly and breathing fast. "Woah! What was that? I was stopping Dr. Calico again and…" He was interrupted by Bolt waking up just in the same way. "Hey, Bolt, you too?"

"What happened? I was dreaming and suddenly… I felt a lot of energy going through my body." The dog said, puzzled.

"Yeah, same here, but it happened just a few seconds before…"

"Ah! What happened?"

"You too, Flor?"

"What do you mean, Rhino?"

"Well, Bolt and I just woke up by a… thing. A lot of energy, I think, is what you just felt, since it was the same with us."

Moments after Rhino had stopped talking, Penny woke up too.

"She too?" Flor asked.

"Weird. Maybe Soul knows what happened." Bolt looked at his mate and found her deeply asleep. "Hey, look, it didn't happen to Mittens, whatever it was."

"Maybe 'cause she's a girl?"

"You genius, I'm a girl too." Flor reproached.

"True… well maybe it's because she's a cat then."

"Perhaps we should go back to sleep and ask Soul in the morning about it." Bolt suggested, as her turned to see Penny calling Soul over and over again.

"Penny, I don't think Soul's coming right now."

The girl immediately stopped her doing and turned to see the rodent. "What did you just say?"

"I said that I think Soul's not coming right now… wait…"

Before anything else, Penny almost shouted, "I understood that! Well, a little part. You just said Soul's name, right?" The hamster nodded. "So it worked, it's starting to work!"

That very sentence placed an euphoria on everyone that lasted for a while before dream came back. Eventually, everyone was back to bed, but Penny was the most excited of them all, for just having understood her hamster saying "Soul".

Night ended up with no more relevant events. Dawn arrived, and Mittens was the first one to wake up. She saw that everyone was still asleep, and tried to keep on doing so, but since she couldn't, she decided to wake up her love.

"Bolt," She whispered to him. "Bolt, wake up."

The dog only responded with a faint sound, too tired to do anything else.

"Come on, Bolt, wake up. You don't want me to use the claws, do you?" She teased as she placed a paw on the shepherd's side and began to move it. Since there was no further response, she added, "Okay, you asked for it."

Mittens moved her paw as if to extend her claws, for her surprise, actually extending some pretty sharp claws that dug into Bolt's side, waking him with a yowl that alerted everyone else in the room.

"What happened, Bolt? You okay?" Rhino asked as soon as he was in position.

He answered after a few seconds, holding his side. "I'm fine, my friend. It was nothing."

"Are you sure?" Flor insisted.

"Pretty sure, thanks for your concern." Bolt repeated. A few moments later he noticed someone was no longer in the room. "Where's Mittens?"

"She left the room as soon as I asked you if you were okay." Rhino answered.

"Thanks, Rhino," Bolt got up with a little pain and went downstairs without moving his paw from the wound. _I thought she had no claws,_ he was thinking as he searched for her all over the first floor, not finding the cat. _Outside._ And just like inside, nothing. Last resort, of course, was the barn. In there, to his relief, once more there was this straw pile that moved at the rhythm of a faint breathing. "Mittens?"

As soon as he said that, the movement stopped, as if she didn't want to talk to him.

"Mittens, are you okay?" He insisted, worried now.

"Yes, Bolt," She answered a few seconds later.

"What happened?"

She peered her head out of the straw, regret and embarrassment in her face. "What do you mean? I hurt you, Bolt, that's what happened." Her voice cracked a little.

"What, this?" He said, removing his paw from the wound. "It's nothing; it may not even last for a day." He added, hoping to reassure her.

"No, Bolt, you don't understand." Mittens hid her head again, looking embarrassed of being in his sight. "I wanted my claws back to help you, to protect you like you always protect me… and the first thing I did with them back was hurt you."

Bolt got closer to the pile. "How did you get them back?"

"I… it happened last night. I got help, but I didn't know that my claws were back until I hurted you with them." She replied from her hiding place.

Bolt got next to the pile and thrust one of his paws into it. He started looking for Mittens with it; when he found her, he placed his paw around her body carefully and pulled her out of her hiding place, to him and then he held her. "It's okay, you were playing, and you didn't know you had your claws back."

"Yes, but…" Bolt silenced her with a kiss.

When they parted, she spoke once more. "Bolt, forgive me, I…"

"Don't worry, it was an accident. And I'm fine, I'm not dying because of this." Bolt smiled at her, hoping she was calmer. Mittens smiled back and placed her head on Bolt's chest to hug him again. Some seconds passed before his stomach grumbled. Bolt chuckled. "Do you want to go inside for breakfast?" Mittens nodded to his question. "Let's go then."

"There you are," Rhino said as soon as he saw them. "Where have you been?"

Mittens' face clearly meant that she didn't want to talk, so Bolt spoke up. "We were testing Mittens' claws."

"Oh, of course. Her… claws…" Rhino processed it for a moment. "Wait, a moment, I thought she didn't have."

"She didn't, until last night. He went through what we went, but earlier or after us. Assuming it was exactly the same, we must have received some help from someone."

"Hello, boys!" Flor said, just coming down the stairs. "I don't know what was it, but I feel great! As if my negative emotions were gone."

"The it must be true, Bolt," Rhino concluded. "The cat got back her claws, Flor received help with her negative emotions and Penny got a push towards understanding us. We only have to discover what it was with you and me."

Moments later, Penny came downstairs to give them breakfast, just as Bolt answered him, "Maybe the rest of the team could help us with that."

"Then let's eat and go see!"

"Maybe Soul knows what it was they helped you with." Flor suggested.

"I understood that too, Flor!" Penny cried excitedly. "Well, it was the same word, but it's progress."

" _Did I hear someone calling me?"_

"Soul!"

" _The one and… ly. Oh, boy."_

"What was that?" Bolt asked.

 _"It was inter…rence, Bolt. This is… etting com… icated."_

"Interference? What do you mean with that?"

" _My… ids, they… explain it… o you."_

After that, Soul spoke no more and everyone felt silent for some minutes.

"Okay, I call breakfast and then calling them to know what was that all about." Everyone nodded to Rhino's suggestion. "Then, breakfast."

Everyone got to eat rather quickly and without any distractions. Finished in minutes, and got to the barn to meet with Soul's students, who arrived a couple of minutes after being called by Bolt.

"What is it?" Mega asked as soon as they came in; then he saw Bolt's wound on his side. "And where did that come from?"

Mittens stepped a little back and plunged her head into Bolt's other side, apparently still ashamed of what had happened.

"I'll tell you later; we called because there was interference with your master this morning."

Byte stood still as soon as she heard that. "We have to speed up the training," She said without hesitation.

"Wait, wait, wait, what's that interference all about?" Rhino asked.

Byte opened her mouth to answer, but got interrupted by Mega.

"I tell them!" She rolled her eyes and made him a gesture to keep talking. "Yes! Well, you see, having left this world, our master keeps in contact with a point from which he absorbs energy there and another one here in order to maintain a stable connection, like a phone call. As you know, we feed on neutral energy that turns positive or negative once it interacts with us. Master comes from a place where there is all peace and quiet, so there's no problem in getting energy for the call there; the problem lies here. Since we are approaching Halloween every day there are more and more events related, not just movies or series, but haunted houses, people making pranks and so on. All of that is turning the neutral energy from the environment into negative one, hindering the absorption of positive energy by the master to keep a stable connection. In fact, we could all suffer those effects if we were not careful. So, it would be expensive for us to invest energy in a spot to keep the master communicated with us, so I agree with Byte, we should hurry the training… to be ready, just in case."

"Then let's train!" Rhino screamed, filled with emotion.

Before they could leave the barn, Soul came back to make an announcement. _"Guys… ave something to say. Kee…ng a stable connection will get… mplicated as the day… roaches. However, I found an alternative. I can have one spokesperson from each group, I would only spend… ergy on talking to that… erson and I wouldn't spend… ch energy in com…cation."_

"It could work, but we would have to choose someone from every group to be the spokesperson," Mega commented.

"Yeah, better not get weary from picking one of us from each group." His sister retorted.

" _Then we… do it… ike that."_

Once more, another voice interfered in everyone's heads, but Helang's this time. _"I heard what the master suggested, and I agree. It will be easier, we are always on groups. I will notify the other two, and I'll be on my way there."_

"Why was there no interference with Helang? I thought the problem was here."

"It is, Rhino, but since Helang is also on this side, he spends far less energy in communication than the master does. Like a local and an international call." Mega answered the rodent.

"I see,"

" _Okay, everyone's on their way. We won't be long."_

"Can you teach me to do that?" Rhino asked the wolf.

"Of course, but let's wait for the rest to begin with."

"Where are we going to train?" Bolt asked. "The barn is too small for everyone and I don't think you two should be outside being so close to people."

"We'll manage it," Byte replied. "Go outside and wait for the others; we will give you instructions from in here to train."

Everyone nodded and the pets began to leave the barn one by one. Bolt was the last one, and Mega stopped him and placed a paw on his injured side. "Give me a moment." The dog nodded and Mega healed the wound.

"Thanks, Mega."

"You're welcome. You can tell me later how it happened."

Bolt smiled, answered, "As soon as you bring me the dozen and a half bones you owe me," and left the barn.

"Now you have to get eighteen bones to satisfy your curiosity, how funny." Byte laughed as soon as Bolt left.

Mega grimaced at his sister. "Give me an hour and I'll get thirty; but for another day. " Helang flew into the barn as Mega spoke.

"Yeah, another day, 'cause it's time to train." He said. "And, is it me, or Bolt, Mittens and Rhino are a lot more luminous than yesterday?"

"Yep, their luminosity went up as sales near Christmas, but none of us did anything for that to happen, right, Mega?" Byte looked at her brother.

"Hey, don't look at me." Mega protested. "How in the world would I do that? I was the whole day with you yesterday! If they got help, it was from someone else."

"Someone with a lot of light. Two of them are radiating thirty percent more, Mittens a fifteen, and even Flor seems to have gotten a part of it, about seven percent. But yes, this is for another day. Let's train."

Both wolves nodded and began with their stuff.

Meanwhile, out in the garden, Peep and Jonathan had joined Bolt's group, as well as Beta. They were just waiting for the other two Labrador retrievers and Kass. Alpha was the first one to appear.

"Hello!" She greeted when she got close. "We heard that you'll keep training."

"And that we should, too," Her brother finished.

Kass only nodded.

" _So it is. Now we have three options. Helang supports meditation practice; I say you can train by playing, and Byte prefers practicing calmer things, like healing or so. You may choose among those three, or you can tell us what do you want to do and we'll help you. If you need anything particular, we're in the barn. Happy training."_

The group got divided like that and began training various things throughout the day. They only stopped to eat and trained alike in the afternoon. Bolt showed more ability in everything, compared to his performance in previous days. Mittens worked on her new claws with Byte's help. Rhino showed a considerable increase in his speed and strength, still inside a common range. Alpha showed better planning and concentrating; Delta worked combat with Mega and Beta. Kass and Peep were with Helang most of the time. Jonathan and Flor tried a little bit from everything. Penny was inside all day long, working with Soul's help.

That day ended just as the last one had: the forest animals left first, followed by the Labrador retrievers and Kass. The neighbors played until the sun came down, then they said goodbye and everyone came back home. Dinner was served and passed without any interesting thing, and everyone went to sleep just like that too.

Night passed quickly and calmly for the team, but the same couldn't be said of the shadow base that was inside a building. Lying on his half-destroyed chair, in front of a desk with multiple marks on it, there was a stranger, this time with another figure in front of him, apparently a shadow, to whom he was talking to.

"I want it to be quick and precise," He was saying from his chair.

"As you please. I would like to know if I'll receive 'help' from the shadow that was assigned to attack the pup." The shadow asked. It looked bigger than the shadow that had been bothering around, and had four eyes, six fingers per hand and a red mark on its chest.

"No, that one stays here. It is working with the last rookies we could produce before the warehouses event." The guy said, smiling and chuckling a little.

"What's so funny?" The shadow demanded, getting closer to the desk.

The stranger made an effort to contain his growing laughter. "It's… naming them."

After that sentence both of them began laughing out loud, dark and somber laughs for both. After a couple minutes they calmed down and returned to what they had been discussing.

"You will go alone and I want it to be on a single attack. Quick and precise, as I told you. Best time would be one or two days before the day of terror." The stranger instructed.

"Can I take a guest?"

"There are some in the cellars, take which one you please. But I want it back; this is no time to waste resources. Those idiots have done too much." And he hit the desk again, adding another mark to the bunch.

"Yes, sir." The shadow replied firmly. "I'll bring you what you want. I'll be back by midnight on the thirty one."

That said, the shadow left the room.

Meanwhile, on another place of the same building, a shadow was talking to its star pupil as they walked down a hallway.

"You've shown great progress, young Shade," It said, proudly. "At this rate you'll be a high-level squad shadow when your training ends."

The little one seemed excited. "Yes, I'll be an elite shadow!" Then it stopped and looked at its mentor, a doubt in its young mind. "Excuse my daring, sir, but you haven't told us your name." The shadow stopped dead when it heard this and looked at the floor. "Sir?"

"I don't have name, Shade." The mentor said, with the equivalent to a faint sadness in its voice. "Most shadows are seen only as soldiers, minions or servants. We are just given numbers, like cattle, not names."

"Then why are you naming us?"

"Because I think you deserve a name, instead of a number or not having any way to address each other. Most superiors don't like it, they say that naming will make you fond of your student, but I say it's just a matter of dignity, to have a name."

"What's your number, sir?" Shade asked after some silent seconds.

"73964CKEDW," The mentor answered as it started moving again. "But I think you should keep calling me 'sir'."

"Thanks for telling me, sir."

"Sure," Then the shadow felt something calling it. "I'm being called. Shade, I'll see you later." And with that, the shadow left the hallway.

Shade just went on moving slowly after being left alone, starting to think some curious thoughts in its young mind.

* * *

 **Hey, hey, hey, I'm back from exams period. Yeah, that's why I didn't uploaded this two weeks ago; yeah, I didn't even had it translated by then... but! now I have tons of more time, and I'll get on to translating fast and happy :) Anyway, thanks everyone for reading, special thanks to all of the people who follow and comment this story (With an account or without it) and thanks for having me some patience. I guess that's all I have to say fro now, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	24. Progress

Chapter 24: Progress

The shadow moved swiftly to the point where it was being called, just to find the shadow that had talked to the stranger. "You called me?" It demanded in a somewhat annoyed tone.

The other shade just chuckled. "What, you won't wish me good luck on my errand?" It asked cynically. "I just wanted to let you know that I'll be outside, so you won't be waiting for me."

The shadow clenched its jaw angrily. "No one will miss you, I'm sure." It mumbled.

"Oh, don't worry; I'm sure your pesky little pets will be good comfort while I'm gone." The shadow exploded in anger and threw itself at its companion. However, its eyes and the symbol on its chest began to glow intensely before any attack was performed, and this left the shadow immobilized mid-air. "Let me just remind you that you can't touch me, not with this power I have and that you would have if you weren't an idiot." Then the elite shadow made a movement with its hand, and the shadow was thrown against a wall, without even being touched. "You better stay down on the floor, or do something useful and clean it before you get up."

Using all of its auto control, the shadow stopped itself from jumping on its companion again. "It's not like I'm interested, but what is your assignment?" It asked as it got up from the floor.

"Just as you said, it's nothing of your interest," Was the response it got. The elite shadow smiled, for its little follower seemed ready to explode in rag again. "They sent me to get this peculiar couple separated, to avoid more problems." It added as they both entered a room.

"I've tried that several times. It won't work, there's no way."

"That's the difference between you and me. You see, you go and try, and I go and _get it done,_ " The elite shadow replied, turning to see the other one with an air of superiority. "That's why I keep going forward and you keep stumbling."

The shadow snarled in response. "And what do you want weapons for?"

"You really never shut up, do you?" Then it went silent for a moment, analyzing what it had in view. There were several shelves lined up, in some kind of cellar. There were lots of different things, from knives to bombs, while some others had what looked like armor and some more had animals and even people, apparently all of them asleep and perfectly aligned. "I have permission to take what I please, so shut up while I pick a guest."

The elite shadow started moving towards a bear that was in one of the shelves, causing the other one to get an idea. "Sure, anyone can do damage while guested." The elite shadow stopped moving. "No doubt you wouldn't be able to do it without one and that's probably why you want to take the bear." It added in a mocking tone, before being thrown against a wall again.

The elite shadow moved away from the shelf and turned to see its companion as it closed distance between them. The eyes and the symbol in its chest were glowing again, in a red wine tone. The smaller shadow was being compressed against the wall, not even touching the floor, and without even being touched by the elite one. When they were face to face, the elite shadow spoke.

"Look, you filthy excuse for a shadow, I'm free to take what I please from here. I'm far superior to you in every possible way, and that's been proven already. It's not my fault that you're pathetic, it's not my fault that you suck at everything; because you can't even defeat them in a dream, and I will fight them awake, all of them and, guess what? I will _still_ take what I want! And you know something, I won't take the dammed guest just to prove you how superior I am to you, and I won't even take a weapon. I'll do it just with me and my intelligence and when I return I will get soaked in power, and I'll show it to you just so you can see what my reward was for doing in one shot what you couldn't in six. Do you understand?" The shadow, unable to move, only nodded with a look of annoyance. After that, the elite one released it. "You just watch me."

Then a rush of air whipped the place, whirling around the elite shadow, whose eyes now shone in a yellow tone as well as its mark. When the air rush disappeared the shadow was gone too. Its companion only stood there, cursing its luck quietly for some time.

* * *

In the blink of an eye a week had already passed by. Bolt and his friends had a solid routine, which consisted basically on training, always on different aspects to develop balance in their abilities. Mega, Byte and Helang went almost every day to the barn, and when they didn't they would give support and instructions to the team from their camp. Beta was present every day, like Alpha and Delta and unlike Kass, who sometimes took a few hours –or a day– without training and just disappearing without warning. Peep worked mostly with Helang, though he was still into physical combat as well, exactly the opposite as Jonathan, who focused on physical strength and almost nothing on meditations. Flor, who was already living with both guys, placed a lot of enthusiasm in everything she did and worked every aspect equally, just like Bolt, who was the one with most progress by then. Mittens and Rhino didn't fell too far from him though, the first one working mostly with her claws and the second following his hero and best friend in the training routines, though the rodent didn't train combat with the rest of them. Penny was slowly expanding the vocabulary she could understand from her pets, going with names and words like "Hello," "Goodbye," "Thank you," or "You're welcome." She wasn't working on anything else at the moment. Soul appeared less and less frequently, but he kept his attitude when he did, and gave pieces of information that he recovered from the records as doubts or specific need arose.

Being a Monday at noon, Penny was at school while the group was training in the garden with Mega, Byte and Helang assisting them from the barn. The fighting circle was formed and two of them –Alpha and Peep at the moment– were facing each other. Both were somewhat injured and in the tiebreaking round.

"Is that all you have?" She asked, panting, in an attempt to provoke him.

"It… won't work." He responded, his usual disgruntled smile on.

Alpha then ran towards Peep at a moderate speed, partly due to exhaustion and partly due to an idea she had. When he got ready to receive her with a blow, she threw herself to the ground, where she rolled and kicked his stomach with all her strength and sending him to the floor on his back. Peep had enough time to get up, though he didn't. Instead, he closed his eyes; when Alpha jumped on him, Peep opened his eyes and used the same trick Bolt had used on him the first time. He ended up on top of her and got to keep the Labrador retriever immobilized enough time. After that was over, he got off of Alpha and helped her to get up while receiving congratulations from the spectators. Both of them went into the barn to get their wounds attended.

"Well done, Peep," Helang congratulated as they came in. "you have a memory for tactics. And you're planning your strategies much better, congratulations." He added for Alpha.

"Thanks," They responded in unison.

Peep went with Mega and Alpha with Byte for healing, and both of them talked with their healers.

"Well done, boy." Mega told Peep.

"Thanks… Mega," He replied, smiling a little more.

"It was very smart that move you did, boy. You are improving really fast, and you learned very quickly how to absorb energy; you would only need to absorb a little faster." Then the wolf gave Peep a mischievous look. "And you're doing pretty well in some other things, huh?"

"What do you mean?" Peep asked Mega, not understanding what he meant.

"Oh, you'll find out, soon enough." He said as he finished with the healing. "Good to go, champion."

Alpha had more wounds than Peep, so it took her a little longer. Meanwhile, she and Byte also had a talk.

"You're getting better, Alpha."

"Thanks," She replied modestly. "But I still have much to learn."

"But that's what this is all about. To improve and lo learn." The she-wolf smiled. "And, changing a little the subject, how are you doing with _that_?

Alpha blushed a little at the question. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you want me to say it out loud?"

"No, no, no, no," She answered quickly. "Well, I think I'm not getting anywhere…"

"But you've just started, it's not even been a week. This stuff takes time, have patience and surely you will get somewhere." She said, smiling.

"Thanks, Byte," Alpha realized she was healed and good to go; Peep was waiting for her at the barn's entrance. "I'll see how it goes." She said before walking towards Peep.

Time kept passing and fights did as well. However, unlike the previous days, the wolves and the falcon lost track of it for being monitoring, and Mega betting on, the fights, to the point they didn't leave the barn until…

"Damn!" Helang shouted out of nowhere, altering the wolves and Bolt and Kass, who had been the last ones to fight, winning the cat but with the dog putting up a good fight.

"What was…? Oh, boy."

"What's the matter, Mega?" Kass asked.

"She's back," Byte answered for him.

"Who's…?"

"Penny!" Bolt ran out of the barn.

"We have to get out of here. Now." Byte urged.

"Wait, Byte. Communication from the master."

Both wolves waited, and Kass left the barn to tell the others while Helang listened. "He says no," He said after some seconds.

"No? 'No' what?" Mega asked.

"We must not go. He says the girl will have to meet us eventually." The hawk stated.

"But is there no other way than she just… finding us three in her barn just like that?"

"He says he'll explain as things happen. I guess it'll be alright."

In the meantime, Bolt had gone out to meet Penny back from school, which didn't surprise her. What did, was that she saw all those pets gathered on the garden, some she knew and some she didn't.

 _"Easy, I'll explain it to you. This is the team we've assembled. They are just training."_

Penny was still confused by all of that. "Who are they? How did you assembled them from… from wherever you are?"

 _"I think they can tell you their own names."_

Then Rhino caught the attention of the pets the girl didn't know. "Hey, guys, Soul wants you to introduce yourselves to Penny."

"Okay, so my name's Alpha"

"I'm Beta."

"Delta."

"Kass."

"Well, at least I could understand their names, and I know the rest of them already."

" _Yeah, about that…"_

"What is it?"

" _Um, promise me you won't be mad or scared… or anything."_

"What?"

" _Well, if you go to the barn you'll find my kids there, my apprentices, my pups and my family."_

"They're all inside the barn?" Penny gasped.

" _Yep"_

"O-Okay," She replied after a few seconds of thinking. Penny then walked towards the barn and opened the door. When she did, she had to stifle a scream. "Who are they?!"

" _I already told you. Guys, please introduce yourselves to Penny."_

"Of course, master. Nice to meet you, my name's Helang."

"I'm Mega."

"And I'm Byte."

The girl processed it for a minute or two. "Helang… Mega… and Byte. Wait, Soul, you mentioned your puppies, but everybody else is not here."

" _Nope, they're all here. It's a common mistake. Well, not really, but it would be if I introduced the three to more people."_

"What do you mean?"

" _These are my kids, my apprentices, my pups and my family. I've raised them since babies."_

"Are they friendly?"

" _Well, they never bit or scratched if it was not in training. I guess I'm safe to say that you can pet them."_

"How did you know that I…?"

" _I'm in your head, remember? But I recommend that you ask them first."_

"Okay," The girl approached Mega a little and extender her hand towards him. "May I?"

"Sure," The wolf moved closer to her hand.

"What was that?" Penny asked Soul.

" _He said yes. It's only natural that you can't understand them, you don't have any link with them as you do with your pets."_

Penny nodded and began to pet Mega's head, who lay still, enjoying the gesture for as long as it lasted.

" _Well, I think these three ought to be on their way. You'll probably see them again, though; they're training the rest."_

Penny couldn't react in any other way than surprised. "What? How?"

" _Yeah, I trained them myself. And with me out of the way they're the most qualified ones to train the team of animals that's out there."_

"Is that even possible? How'd you do it?"

" _Okay, okay, I'm perceiving your doubt as far as where I am. Can't blame you, though, but I'll do this just to prove it to you."_ Then there was a silence on Penny's mind and both wolves moved into combat position. _"They'll show you the fire-water combo. Give them some space, please."_

Penny stepped back a little, giving room to the wolves. Both closed and opened their eyes. Mega's coat began to turn orange-red and the wolf spat fire, setting aflame a small heap of straw. Before Penny even finished thinking about how to turn in off, she heard, _"Don't, it will be off in a moment,"_ in her head, so she didn't move. Next move, Byte's coat turned bluish and then she spat a big stream of water from her mouth, putting the fire out.

" _How was it?"_ Soul asked her, before talking to his apprentices. _"Thanks, kids, go back to camp."_

The three of them passed by the girl, saying goodbye to her, and left.

" _Okay, since there's almost no homework today I can explain it to you during all of the afternoon."_

Penny came out of the barn in shock from what she had seen, and spent the whole meal and a good part of the afternoon asking questions to Soul. The trio of pets, on the other hand, ate while they talked about their progress, with Rhino assuring that his first extraordinary ability would be the thermal vision, to which Bolt responded that he would follow Soul's advice and develop the premonition first. Mittens didn't make any comments on the matter and was silent almost all the time. During the afternoon the group got back together, except for Beta and Soul's students, who were apparently busy doing something.

The group decided to play something for the time, hide and seek being the chosen game. Kass got to seek first, though he didn't seemed to get into it. He didn't put effort on looking for the others and seemed not to care, so it took a while for him to find them all. After this episode he just excused himself and disappeared. After having played for a couple of hours, and already tired, they all lay down and got to talking.

As the afternoon continued to pass, things were a little more hectic in the camp than with the group.

"This isn't right, this isn't right, this isn't right,"

"Uh… Helang, are you okay?"

"No, Mega, this isn't right."

"What's not right? Explain yourself, maybe we can help." Mega told Helang.

"Don't tell me you haven't felt it yet," Helang answered, a little irritated, something very weird from him.

"What? That?" Mega asked.

"Yes,"

"No,"

"What are you talking about?"

"Stop it, you two!" He cried desperately. "There are many things that can be perceived right now, tell me yours and I'll tell you mine."

Byte closed her eyes and concentrated. "Besides your frustration and annoyance, I feel danger… approaching and… moving away?" She opened hr eyes. "That makes no sense."

"Exactly, Byte, something's not right. With that kind of feeling their next move will probably be a trap…"

"Or a dirty move," Mega interrupted.

"Excuse me, is there any of their moves that's not dirty?"

"Those who bathe."

Byte rolled her eyes. "Not now, Mega. It's not time for your bad jokes."

"Hey, hey, hey," The wolf reproached. "First, my jokes are great, even the bad ones. Second, a little humor is never bad." The wolf saw his sister opening her mouth. "And you know that, master told us so daily!"

"Can you leave your puppy fights for another time!? My head… is… aching…"

"Was the joke so bad?"

"No, Mega, the last time my head ached like this, was when… Oh, no." Helang flew off immediately and spoke in their heads. _"There's a very dangerous shadow in the area. I want you to be alert all times and notify Bolt and the others. Don't let them go anywhere alone and don't let them lower their guard."_

"Well… that's pretty crazy, huh?"

"Can you leave your puppy games? Can't you see this is serious?"

"Yeah, whatever you say, 'mom'," Mega grimaced at her, and she, for some reason, answered the gesture. "Hah! The funniest part is that you did it too." The wolf laughed at his sister's annoyed look. After a few minutes he stopped dead and got up. "Wait a second, what day is it, Byte?"

"Monday"

"No, no, no, no, the number, you girl."

She gave him a furtive glance. "Twenty. And don't call me like that." She replied reluctantly.

"Ah, okay, we're good then," He said, "Beta mentioned that Pitt had planned and attack for just before the thirty-one; although that was before the attack we made, premonition tells me that the operation is still standing. Considering and analyzing the data on their energy loss and the lack of shadow activity on the last few days, I can presume that it will be a single-shadow attack, which will probably have a lot of dark power, since they can't afford more than that. However, the ongoing number of Halloween-related events could have more impact than the one we've foreseen, opening a possibility of a small distraction with low-level shadows so that the main one gets a clear shot. If we combine this with the distribution and shadow planning data that Beta got us last time, I could say that it is not a light destroyer, but an elite one, which probably has access to weapons and armor, and even a guest who could be a squirrel, a snake, a duck or a lion, a tiger, a bear or something else; so we can only prepare ourselves, since all pets are already training as hard as they can, so we can't demand more, and hope for the best for that day or the days before it, and if possible set a guard between us and them or teach them how to communicate with each other mentally, which would keep them slightly more secure." Mega added, without even taking air once and finishing with a stunned look from both his sister and his daughter. "What?"

" _I agree with him. He's crazy, and we know it, but he's right this time."_

"Yeah, well, thanks for that, Helang." The wolf said half sarcastic and half seriously.

" _I'll be patrolling the three houses. I need you to check the surroundings of the camp_ very _carefully. We don't want shadows sniffing around."_

"Going then," Mega said excitedly, then turned to see his companions, who were still stunned and still. "Girls?"

"Ah? Oh, yeah, come on, Mega. Beta, stay here and stand guard."

"Sure…" She said as she lay back over a pile of colored leaves.

Meanwhile, at Penny's garden, the pets were already saying goodbye. Alpha and Delta were the first ones, since they had to walk a few blocks to their home.

"Goodbye, guys," He said from a distance.

"Goodbye," They all responded in unison.

"Goodbye everyone, bye Peep."

"Bye, Alpha."

Both siblings left the place walking side by side, with the sunset behind them.

"Well, I guess we're leaving too," Jonathan said a few minutes later. "With all that training we have to rest more, so we'll see you tomorrow, guys." The Alaskan malamute got up and was joined by his two friends.

"Bye,"

That left Bolt, Mittens and Rhino alone. They spent a couple of minutes in silence until Rhino got up.

"Well, I'm going inside and watch something in the magic box. You coming, guys?"

Bolt and Mittens looked at each other and then at him. "In a moment, Rhino," Bolt said.

"Sure," Then the hamster left for the house, leaving the lovebirds alone lying side by side.

Once they were alone, Bolt spoke first. "How are you doing with your claws?"

"I'm doing well, I think so. They are stronger and sharper than the first ones I had."

"Yes, I can testify to that," He said, amused by the look she put when he mentioned it. There was a small silence before he spoke again. "Are you calmer now?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

Bolt looked away. "It's only…"

"What is it, Bolt?"

"You've been having nightmares all week long, haven't you?"

Mittens went silent. "H-How did you know?"

"Because you've been moving in your sleep, talking too." She looked at the floor. "What's wrong?"

"I'm still scared, Bolt." She leaned against his side. "I can't help thinking that something bad could happen to you. I'm afraid I won't be able to help you."

"But that's what we're training for," He reasoned. _Not again, please, Soul, help me. How can I soothe her?_

"But you're the only one of us that has faced a shadow, and only one. What if they were ten or fifteen, or if they had strange weapons to attack you?" She kept talking, raising her voice and apparently she was beginning to panic.

Mittens kept talking, her voice growing louder and faster. "Mittens!" Bolt had to shout for her to stop. "Look at me, none of that is going to happen, okay? Maybe you can't take the fear away, but I know you can control it." She looked at him. "In a movie I saw with Rhino there were these two characters who said that you should live without worrying." He smiled and hugged her. "We don't know what will happen, but I promised you that I'll always take care of you, remember? And I intend to keep that promise. Besides, we're not alone, we have many friends who are with us."

"But still something could happen to you. They could hurt you, or kill you."

"But you're not considering something. One of us is the pillar. If it's me, I won't let them touch you, and there won't be any problem about me. If it's Rhino, then he won't doubt to protect us, and if it's you…"

"I would give it all to protect you."

"For now, we should enjoy the moment, here and now, what do you say?"

Mittens smiled. "Sure."

 _Thanks, Soul, I owe you another one._

She rested her head on Bolt's side and he laid his against Mittens' as they watched the sun go down. At a certain distance, someone was watching.

"Objective found. Analyzing for convenient attacks," It told itself as it saw the couple in the distance. "Enjoy, enjoy it while you can. Because when you see my face for the first time, all your happiness will be gone. Now, calculating dates and circumstances for the attack." A moment it took and the shadow smiled. "You don't know it, puppy, but your kitty is already mine."

* * *

 **Well hello! Yeah, I've got tons of free time now, and I'll be posting weekly for some time! I guess I've got no comments this time, or I just forgot about them, so thanks everyone for reading, special thanks to Basbon, for his reviews and support and I'll see you next week with another chapter, yeah! Nos vemos luego!  
**


	25. Agitated night

Chapter 25: Agitated night

Penny's P.O.V.

It was late; everyone else at home was asleep but me. I had spent all afternoon asking Soul things, to the point that I completely forgot about my homework until he reminded me about it. I was surprised to hear that he offered to help me with it, it wasn't that complicated. When I asked why, he just said that it was a compensation for having taken so much time from me.

"Okay, so I move the one here, and it is… eight thousand three hundred and forty-six."

" _That's right."_

"Well, that was the last one," I said, tiredly. "Thanks for the help, Soul, but it wasn't necessary."

" _I have nothing to do here,"_ He replied. _"I have plenty of free time."_

That just sparked my curiosity. "Where are you, that you have so much time?"

There was a silence of a few seconds. _"Right, you still don't know… Penny, I'm dead."_ He said before I had the chance to ask.

That was just a surprise. "What? How?"

I heard him sigh. _"After you changed the flat tire and went on your way, I killed the leader of the shadows that were after you. They went mad and I got a blade sunk in my chest from behind… didn't defend myself, and I guess the rest is pretty deductible."_ I covered my mouth with one hand just of imagining that. _"Hey, don't worry, I'm fine. I can help a lot more from here, and in ways that weren't possible before."_

I was going to ask something else, but I heard a noise and turned around. Next to Bolt, Mittens was kicking and whimpering with a terror look on her face. "What's wrong with her?"

" _A nightmare, I suppose."_

 _I suppose?_ "Can't you check her?" I asked.

" _No. If I enter her mind while she's asleep she might wake up. Moreover, if she's dreaming I could even spark a problem in her neural processes."_

"What?"

" _Look, you're seeing physics at school, right?"_ I nodded. _"Remember the law on energy conservation?"_

I thought about it for a moment. "It's not created or destroyed…"

" _It's just changing constantly, yeah. When I left this world I became a bunch of energy. Wherever I go, wherever I am, I can be perceived by energy measuring devices, provided they're in the correct frequency. If I enter someone's mind my energy interacts with the guest's. If the guest is in the middle of a complex process, dreaming in this case, and I get inside, I can damage the energy on their mind and cause problems. The same I could do if I entered a TV that's turned on. You, on the other hand, could try and pet her."_

I was a bit confused by his explanation, but it didn't matter right then. "Okay," I knelt down near Bolt's bed, he was holding her even though she kept kicking and whimpering. They had been sleeping like that for some weeks now… almost like if they were… a couple… "Hey, Soul, are Bolt and Mittens…?"

" _Yes, for a week and a half or so. Cute, huh?"_

"Yeah, a lot."

" _It's no wonder, considering all they've lived together. When you can fully understand them ask them to tell you their story. You're not gonna believe where your puppy ended up when he got lost."_ He said with a chuckle.

I was already beside the bed, Mittens was still moving and whimpering, so I moved my hand to pet her. "Shh, easy girl, it's just a…" The moment my hand touched her head I began seeing things in my head. Bolt was hurt one way or another in every one of them; one in particular caught my attention. Bolt was lying on the floor, bleeding. There were many shadows around him, all of them armed, and in the background there were cages, and all of his friends were inside, all of them hurt, some were even lying on the floor, not moving at all. The two wolves and the hawk Soul raised, too, were lying on the ground… dead.

" _PENNY!"_ Was the next thing I heard, and I separated my hand from her fur. My breath… I could feel my heart racing, just seeing that…

"What was that?" I cried.

" _Calm down, calm down a bit. Tell me exactly what you saw."_

"No, I don't want to remember that image, it was horrible. Soul, Soul, please, get it out of my head, please get it out!"

" _Penny, calm down. I'll do as you ask, but I need you to describe it for me so I know what to remove. However, I can't get rid of the sensations that it caused, but you won't remember the image itself."_

I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself a little. I was on the verge of tears, I couldn't have that thing on my head for another second. "I… There were many shadows… armed. Cages, with all of them inside… and outside, there were your kids…"

" _Dead on the floor, just like Bolt, yeah, I found it. Certainly it is unpleasant to see. Where did you get it?"_

"I don't know, I swear, I was going to ask you." Before I continued I felt a slight headache that lasted for some seconds. Then I forgot that image, but I was certainly still scared. "I just touched Mittens and then I saw all those images of Bolt being wounded… and eventually found that one."

" _Really?"_

"Yes, yes, why?"

" _Because that's what's making her so scared. You just saw her thoughts, her dream."_

"Her nightmare, you mean."

" _Nightmares are a type of dream,"_ He said, and I thought of a question, but I didn't even tried saying it out loud, he always interrupts me. _"Actually if it bothers you, you could just tell me."_

"What?"

" _That. If you don't like me to answer before you've finished asking then accept my apologies. It's not intentional, but I heard it twice, when you think it and when you say it, so it's easier to listen once and then answer. Now, regarding the question you didn't want to ask out loud, Mittens has been having nightmares all week long. Bolt's tried to calm her down, but apparently it's not working. I have to check for a solution to this mess."_ There was a small silence. _"Well, off I go, to investigate. Good night, Penny. By the way, what you just did is not easy to achieve for a human, so consider it as some kind of unwanted ability, but still developed due to your capability for this stuff… thing. I just hope it wasn't a premonition."_

"A what?" But there was no answer this time. He had gone. I took a few minutes to calm myself a little bit more and went to sleep. He certainly made me a huge favor by removing that image from my head. I would've not been able to sleep if it had stayed there.

* * *

Meanwhile, at some distance from the house there was still someone working on a plan. The shadow was minding its own business when a faint sound was heard.

The shadow took combat position immediately. "Who's there?"

Another small silence, the shadow began to get ready for a fight when...

"Guest delivery,"

"Ah, it's you."

From the bushes appeared a very small and thin shadow, carrying a notebook in the hand, which it began to read. "Order of a C size guest, animal species: 'bear' for a shadow with your physical description."

"So it is."

"Mark here, please," The elite shadow marked the space that was indicated to. "Thank you." Then the delivery shadow disappeared for a moment and reappeared dragging the bear's body. "You also requested… a remote control device?"

"That's right." The small shadow gave a kind of bracelet with a black crystal in the middle. "Thanks,"

"Sir, I know it's not my business, but why do you want to control the bear from a distance? You could easily face the dog without any guest."

"The bear is not for the dog. It's for his friends; when they are busy fighting it, I'll have a free way to take that cat."

"I see. Thanks for telling me, sir. Now I leave," And so, the delivery shadow left at once.

The elite shadow was left to its thoughts for some minutes until it received a communication. _"There's a change of plans."_

"What is it?" The shadow demanded.

" _I don't want you to bring me the cat."_

"Oh, really?"

" _Really, I want you to bring me something… a little more specific."_

"Yeah? And what's that, exactly?"

From an outside perspective, the shadow was talking alone. "For real? Do you have any idea of how much energy I'll use for that? Yes… yes, sir, I'll do whatever you ask. I'll bring it in… yeah, on second thought, you're right, that'll cause a lot more trouble for them."

Meanwhile, in the camp there was another sibling discussion in progress.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"I told you no, you girl!"

"And I told you to stop calling me that!"

"That's enough!" Helang intervened, back from a patrol. "Are you not capable of controlling yourselves? Since the master left you two have been arguing more and more."

"But…"

"'But' nothing, Mega. I don't usually do this, but I'm gonna bet you don't even remember what were you arguing about." The wolf looked down. "I thought so,"

"I do remember why… I didn't say anything." Byte felt silent as she received the hawk's glance.

"Thanks," Then Helang started talking to himself. "We need to know what they're up to, but we don't have anyone infiltrated anymore, and they've probably seen them all already. We can't risk sending anyone. Agh!" He cried desperately. "If I had worked more on that transformation…"

"Wait a second there, you can transform? Why didn't you tell me!? We could've done great things like…" Mega stopped as he saw Helang make a gesture.

"No, I don't know how to. It was one of the last skills I worked on with the master. Unfortunately I didn't progress enough. It's a skill that requires a lot of energy and concentration, and a total mastery of one's body. The idea is to be capable of physically changing into anything."

"Anything?" Byte echoed.

"Anything," Helang repeated. "a bear, a fox, a tiger, a snake, a dragon, a branch, a rock, a carpet, a grain of salt, whatever. But as I told you, I can't do it; I gave my attention to something more useful." The hawk saw Mega was going to ask. "But I'll tell you another day, now let me meditate." And he closed his eyes.

On another location, a few blocks away from Penny's home, Alpha was still awake and talking to herself. "No, no, no, no, no," Very frustrated, apparently. "I don't have the age to… well, I really don't know his age, I don't think he remembers it at all. But still, no! How did this happen?" She felt silent for a moment. "But I had already decided that I would give it a try… What's the matter with me? I've been on this for no more than a week and I look like I'm crazy. Is it always like this? I don't even know him at all, do I? For some reason, I feel that I do know him, that this little part I know about him is all there is to know, but…. Agh, this is horrible!" She threw herself to the floor as she pouted. "Wait a moment, I can clear up my doubts. Aunt Byte already knows about it, so I can talk to her, and with Mittens too, or anyone that lives with him! Yes, I can do that!" She yawned. "But… tomorrow, there won't be anyone awake to talk this late anyway." She returned to her bed. "Because I think it's real, even if it's sudden."

In the meantime, in Diego's house, everyone was asleep, everyone but Flor. She was wide awake, incapable of sleeping, so she approached the bed that was next to hers and whispered, "Peep?"

The little guy woke up as soon as he heard her. "What is it, Flor?" He asked in a sleepy tone.

She averted her gaze, a little embarrassed. "Well, it's getting really cold and I–" Peep stood up "What are you doing?"

"I'm going… closing… the window," He answered as he climbed up to a chair and then slid the window closed. "Better?"

She chucked to herself, nodded, said, "Yes, thank you." and then returned to her bed. "Goodnight, Peep."

"Goodnight. If you need anything… lemme… know." He said, and closed his eyes.

"Sure," _Oh, Peep, you're so innocent, that's why we all love you. So pure and cute… What!? I just met him! Though… he_ is _cute… Hmmm. I should spend more time with him, get to know him a little better. Yes…_

* * *

Soul's P.O.V.

 _Alright, don't let it be a premonition, don't, please don't, please don't, please don't, please don't._

I got communication with the superior. I always do before searching for anything in the archives, sometimes he knows about what I'm going to look for and helps me with it.

"Excuse me, I'd like to ask a couple things."

"Yes, I know. Go on, ask."

"I have this friend in the physical world. She, well, she's been having nightmares and…"

"Search in the archives."

"But, sir, the archives–"

"The archives don't only hold the past of the planet, its present and all its possible futures, too. If her nightmare has any chance of becoming real, you'll find it in the archives."

Without wasting a moment I began searching in the archives. However I didn't quite knew how to look for the possible futures of the team I have assembled in the physical world… oh, right. A lot of images began to appear and get close to me. Among some of them there was Bolt saving Mittens, Rhino saving them both, Jonathan flying? Yeah, not that hard to believe… Peep doing… wow! Okay… I'll have to check on that later. My kids were in those images too. Playing, fighting, smiling, frowning, and… _No…_

There it was, growing progressively, the image I had taken out of Penny's head. All of them in cages, but Bolt and my kids. Most of them were dead… but, where was Mittens?

"You can't see her, she caused all of that." The superior told me suddenly.

"What?"

"The perspective of this picture revolves around Mittens' point of view. You're seeing all of it from her eyes. She caused that reality."

"That's not possible, she wouldn't."

"Not consciously, but as you can see the picture is growing, you know why?"

"No,"

"Have you ever heard this one? 'What you think, you will be, what you feel, you will attract, what you imagine, you will create.'" I finished placing the pieces together on my own, but I let him finish. "She's imagining the worst case scenario, and she's been doing so for a while. As she keeps on fearing that future, she'll keep calling it. If you can't stop her from thinking about it, that'll be the destiny of your team."

"That won't happen. My kids have never failed me."

"There's a first time for everything."

"They _don't know_ how to fail."

"And so, they'll learn… in the worst possible way."

Okay, I had what I needed. I said goodbye to the superior and 'closed' the archives. _Now I have to talk to Bolt, we have to do something._

Bolt's P.O.V.

I can't remember what I was dreaming, I just woke up because I felt someone moving me. When I opened my eyes I saw Mittens standing beside me, her eyes watery and her body trembling. "What happened, Mittens?"

She didn't answer. She just hugged me tight and sank her face into my chest. I held her for a minute or two in silence, trying to calm her down.

"Bolt…" She said in a broken voice.

"Did you have a nightmare?"

"I don't want them to come true, Bolt; I don't want _that_ to happen to you." She whimpered.

" _Bolt!"_

 _What? Oh, hi, Soul; I was just going to call you. I need you help once more, please._

" _Not this time, champ. I'll put you up to date. She's not fearing that something will happen to you."_

 _What? Then…?_

" _She knows you're the one who's been progressing most, everyone knows it. What she actually fears is to be a burden to you, be the cause for you to suffer."_ I didn't get the chance to ask before he answered. _"On T.V. you've seen that the bad guys trying to get someone close to the hero, right? Someone they can use to blackmail the hero to stop attacking. Well, that's exactly what she thinks will happen. She's afraid of becoming the bait, afraid of you getting hurt because you were protecting her."_

"Mittens, that's not gonna happen. I won't let that happen." I held her tighter; I could her she was just sobbing now.

" _Now, we have another tiny little problem."_

 _What is it, Soul?_

" _You see, despite of what you're doing to calm her down, her subconscious is not giving a damn about it, that's why she's still having nightmares. The problem is that the more attention she pays to that dream, the more likely it is that it will_ actually _happen."_

I had to make an effort not to scream it out loud.

 _WHAT?!_

" _Mittens, by constantly thinking about that future, is calling it to reality. She's using the same principle you're using to develop your abilities, but for something that will cause harm."_

 _So what can I do?_

" _I'll see if I can erase those images from her mind. But I need you to help me. You have to calm her down, almost to the point she falls asleep, but not so far."_

 _Uh… How am I gonna do that?_

" _I don't know, Bolt, pet her or something."_

' _Pet her or something'? Really?_

" _Do you have any better idea, Bolt? 'cause I'm open to suggestions, but she must not fall asleep. If she does and I'm inside her head bad stuff may happen."_

 _O-Okay, I'll see what I can do._

" _Don't tell her what's happening, or her subconscious will close."_

And so, Soul left my head. 'Pet her or something'. Let's see how that ends.

Slowly, I moved one of my paws from the hug and placed on her head. Then I began to move it gently from side to side. First Mittens stopped sobbing, and eventually she even started purring! _Hurry up, Soul, I don't know how long it'll last._

"Thanks for calming me down, Bolt." She said after a few minutes, pulling out of my hug and getting ready to lie down again. "I think I'm better now."

 _Think of something, Bolt. Now!_ "Sure, but, uh…could you tell me…about your dream?"

She looked at me. "You want to know what I was dreaming?"

"Yes… maybe it could help talking about it… could help taking it away." From her look I deduced it was not pleasant for her. "B-But you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No… I want to tell you." She sighed and got close to me once more. "But it's not nice what it was."

"I imagine so." _Hurry up, Soul._

(-)

Meanwhile, inside Mittens' mind:

 _Okay… let's what's inside here. If I'm not mistaken, and I'm usually not, her dreams should be around… there. Don't speak... she'll listen and this would've been useless. Okay, it should be in her recent dreams. There! Wait, why is it growing? Oh, man… what are the chances that you asked her to tell you about it, Bolt? Not helping! I can't delete it if she's working with it. Maybe I could change it with something else, though she would just start talking about some other thing from a moment to another. What could I use? Here… kids? How long's she been thinking about that? Well, I could use it to… okay, forget it, it stopped growing… I don't know what you did, Bolt, but you did well._

(-)

By how Mittens was describing her nightmare to me I wasn't surprised that she couldn't sleep. I even felt guilty for asking her to tell me. Some tears were coming back into her eyes. "Stop, don't tell me anymore." I requested. I saw relief flood her eyes, so I held her again and began caressing her head once more. "Nothing like that will happen, we'll be fine." She nodded with her head on my chest and stood still.

Suddenly she jerked away from me and looked into my eyes. "Bolt… Bolt, you were right. I-I can't remember it anymore, I can't remember my nightmare!"

 _Soul must be done._ "That's so…" I couldn't finish the sentence, Mittens jumped on me and began to lick my cheek.

" _You're her hero, Bolt."_

 _But you did it. I didn't do anything._

" _No, Bolt. Without your help it wouldn't be done by now. You are the hero, champ."_

Soul said no more as Mittens kept on licking my cheek and thanking me over and over again. I responded the gesture, hugged back, licked her cheek once and waited for her to finish before kissing her forehead. "Goodnight, Mittens" I told her.

"Goodnight, wags," She responded with a smile, one that I hadn't quite seen in a week.

* * *

Both of them fell asleep a few minutes later, holding each other as usual. Soul returned to his world and stayed there for the rest of the night. Meanwhile, in the building, there was a lot of movement.

"What's going on here?" The shadow asked to young Shade.

"I don't know, sir. Everyone just started moving from place to place. They're also taking away stuff from the cellars."

"Stay here, look after the others and let me know if something happens."

That being said, the shadow went to a half-destroyed office, without even waiting for his pupil to answer. The door was ajar and the stranger behind it spoke even before the shadow had knocked on it.

"What do you want?"

"I want to know why there's so much movement in the building." The shadow answered as it entered the office.

"It's none of your business. You concentrate on training those newbies. We're one week and a half from thirty-one, and I only see one of your kids who stand out."

The shadow grunted a little. "Well, sir, I'll go back to training them." It said as it left the room. "How annoying he can be sometimes." It mumbled once it was far enough from the office.

"What is it, sir?" Shade asked once the mentor was back.

"He wouldn't tell, but I got orders for harder training. We'll speed things up; starting tomorrow, we'll focus on combat training."

"Yes, sir. I'll tell the rest of the group." Shade ran into a room.

Once alone, the shadow started thinking out loud. "This stinks more and more every time. I don't want to know what the hell's going on. Sometimes I just want to forget about all of this and flee… but hell I can't." Then it headed for the same room Shade had ran into.

The rest of the night went smoothly for all of the area. At dawn the first one to wake up were those at Penny's room due to her alarm clock. However, Rhino was the only one who woke up without problem. "Good morning," he yawned as he stretched, then saw that no one else had risen, not even Penny. "Now what's wrong with you guys?"

"Slept late… doing homework," Penny replied drowsily from her bed. "And I think Mitens had nightmares."

"What about Bolt?"

"I woke him up, I had to talk to somebody," Mittens said as she started moving. Bolt slowly opened his eyes and yawned.

Penny finished getting up and went to the bathroom. The animal trio headed to the first level a few minutes later, and Rhino turned on the T.V. The girl came down and gave breakfast to all of them and then left for school. Her three pets went out and waited for the rest of them. Jonathan came out almost at the same time, with Peep at his side and Flor on his back. Apparently she had been spending the night awake and was tired. Kass arrived a few minutes later, followed by both siblings. Alpha was in the same state as Flor. Finally, Soul's students arrived along with Beta, and another day of training began.

* * *

 **Hello once more! You see, plenty of time, plenty of chapters. Okay, this is it, next week we'll start seeing more action in the story, cliffhangers, and some unfortunate events, heh. But for now, I'm thanking you once more for reading, for having me patience, and my usual special thanks to Basbon and his always-present reviews, thanks buddy, you rock. Anyway, I think that's all I have to say right now, so see ya next week. Nos vemos luego!  
**


	26. Shadow Strike

Chapter 26: Shadow strike

The week ended in the same way for all the team, they continued training and improving their skills. Mega began to annoy Helang by insisting and pleading to the hawk to show this other skill of which he had spoken, a petition that was always denied. Helang, in turn, had asked Soul to infiltrate the mind of someone within the organization, a request that was rejected, since Soul judged that the shadows didn't know about him, and that he could expose himself if he entered a mind occupied by a shadow. Mittens spent a lot of time working on her fears with the wolves' help, and got to minimize them enough to stay calm. Alpha and Flor both started to spend more time with a clueless dog, who didn't get any explanation for that. His bigger brother found this situation comical, and accorded with himself not to interfere and see what happened. Kass stopped disappearing once the date turned 25 and began training even after returning home.

On the other hand, the shadow along with the bear, had gone unnoticed by skillfully evading Helang's patrols and clouding his premonition with baits and lures set along the area they were using. The building every time seemed more and more abandoned for real, as fewer and fewer shadows worked every day. The usual shadow kept on training his group in various aspects, achieving some other outstanding students. Bud was a shadow with a muscular build and big, despite being still young it was almost the size of its mentor, and was the best in combat for predictable reasons. James, whose complexion was totally opposite from Bud's, giving it trouble for hand-in-hand combat, but a lot of skill in speed and stealth. And there was Alex, an excellent strategist who knew how to think clearly even under pressure, but requiring Shade's knowledge for better planning.

Being it twenty-nine at night, someone had finished planning and felt confident to carry on a "quick and precise" attack.

"Sound record. Date, 29th of October; hour, nine forty-five PM; status: After having planned everything with care and precaution, I have completed the plan, which will be executed tomorrow, Thursday thirty, about six or seven in the morning. I've planned entrance and escape with caution and I will even give the boss a little extra. End of the record." Then it smiled to itself and turned to the bear. "You ready?"

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Dawn came as usual. The alarm clock on Penny's room woke her and her three pets up, who went down to wait for breakfast, however Bolt seemed distant.

"Is something wrong, Bolt?" His mate asked, concerned that the dog hadn't spoken since he woke up.

"What? Oh, no. I'm fine, Mittens," He answered hastily.

"You sure?"

"Well… not quite. I feel weird; I think something could happen."

She walked over to him. "You told me we were going to be okay…"

"I know, but this is different. I don't know how, but it's not the same."

Penny came walking from the stairs before Mittens could answer and filled everyone's bowls with food.

"Don't worry, Bolt," She told him in a sweet voice as she rubbed her head in his chest. "Come on, let's have breakfast."

"Yes, that would be nice," _Why am I feeling this in my stomach?_

They both headed to the kitchen, where Rhino was already eating. During that time Mittens and Rhino talked a little, but Bolt didn't say anything at all. Twenty minutes later Penny was ready to leave for school.

"Don't go outside, Penny," Bolt requested, blocking the entrance of the house.

She understood the whole sentence and was confused by it. "Why, what is it, Bolt?"

"I… I don't know. Maybe… you shouldn't go to school today." He stammered, doubting his own words.

Penny bent down and began stroking Bolt's head. "I'm going to be okay, boy, nothing's gonna happen to me."

Bolt, not totally convinced by this, moved out of the way and let her out. He regretted that decision half a minute later. From the outside, Penny's desperate cry was heard and it ripped in the ears of all three. "Help!"

Bolt ran out of the house, followed by his two friends, just to find Peny being held by a grizzly bear on its back. "Bolt…!" Was the only thing she got to shout before the bear sprayed her with something that made her fall unconscious.

"Leave her alone!" Bolt rushed towards the bear, but he seemed to ignore the dog and just ran towards the woods, leaving the pets behind very fast. "Helang, Helang, I need your help!"

" _What is it, Bolt?"_

"A… a bear, just appeared and took Penny into the woods."

" _Probably a shadow. We'll be there, don't worry."_

Moments later they all saw Jonathan get out of his house and run in the same direction the bear had taken. "Where are you going?" Rhino shouted.

"They say they'll need my help!" He shouted in response as the got away from the pets.

" _You three stay inside. We can't risk any potential pillar in these days."_

The three of them returned inside resigned, especially Bolt. "I knew it, I knew she shouldn't have gone outside!" He said as he hit the floor with his paws, totally frustrated.

"Relax, Bolt. Poor shadow will be fighting Mega, Byte, Helang and Jonathan at the very least. In fact, for a supposed strategist it was a very banal attack." Rhino said, trying to reassure his friend.

Bolt looked at him, his eyes widening. "Rhino, repeat that last part."

"Uh… I said that for a so-called strategist it had been a banal attack, you know, common, simple, not interesting," He repeated nonchalantly.

Mittens opened her eyes just like Bolt. "Unless…"

"Unless it was not an attack," He finished for her. "Stay inside!" Bolt commanded. Before any of them could protest, he was already outside and running towards the house next door. "Helang, the bear is a distraction!" He cried desperately as he ran.

" _That makes sense, Bolt, although we can't help you right now, we're facing the decoy. I want you to think who might be the target besides you."_

Bolt began to think quickly. "Well... this could be for anyone. But… the shadow inside Flor was trying to separate me from… Oh, no!" Bolt shifted direction without stopping, he was returning home, almost panicking. "Helang, there's no distraction! They want both Penny and Mittens!"

" _You must stop that from happening. Stay beside Mittens until we return."_

Bolt ran at full speed back home. When he entered through the pet door he got a horrible surprise. Furniture thrown and moved from its place, marks on the walls and floor, and Rhino lying next to the couch with his eyes closed. Bolt moved towards the hamster and poked him with his paw.

Rhino groaned and rubbed his head. "Bolt…" He said simply before reacting. "Bolt! The shadow came in here and took Mittens with it. I tried to stop it, but…" The hamster lowered his head.

"It doesn't matter, buddy, you did your best. Do you know where was it headed?" He asked calmly despite the panic growing inside him. The last thing that he wanted to happened was to deal with choosing between his person and his mate.

"I think it was in the same direction the bear took." Bolt headed for the door without saying more. "Bolt, be careful," Rhino whispered as he left.

"I will, Rhino," He whispered back once outside. After that, he looked around and then started running towards the forest, but with a different direction. _If premonition was right about the bear, it must be right about this, too. Hold on, Mittens, I'm going._

As Bolt finished thinking about his mate in danger, he began to feel his body move faster and faster, until he was running at a supernatural speed.

Mittens' P.O.V.

I had been struggling for the las five minutes, with no result, with that shadow. It was stronger than the one Bolt had faced before, I knew it. Just some seconds after he went out, that thing came in and started chasing me. It hadn't even payed attention to Rhino. I really don't want to think that this is happening, that they'll blackmail Bolt using me… Bolt's coming for me, but I don't know if he'll be strong enough…

 _No, Mittens, don't think like that! Bolt can handle it, he's brave, he's noble, he's…_

"Ouch!" The shadow had thrown me to the floor without me noticing. "It wouldn't hurt you to do it gently." I complained.

"Actually, it would," The shadow answered. "Now hold still, kitty. This will only hurt… a lot." It smiled at me, in a horrible way.

I tried to run away but I didn't have the chance. I just got immobilized where I was. I turned to it; its eyes and a mark on its chest were shinning in a red wine tone. "That won't work. I'm not like that loser you are used to."

I was getting more scared by the moment. "W-What do you want me for?"

The shadow laughed and approached me. "You're overestimating yourself, little one. I'm not here for you, but for something your heart shelters. Unfortunately, the process to extract it requires a lot of energy, so I'll have only one shot. But nobody's around, so that won't be a problem." The shadow placed its hands facing each other. In the space between them something began to appear… something in a violet tint, it seemed like electricity, but I'm sure it was not. "Don't worry, once I'm done with you I'll leave you here for your doggy to find. But things won't be the same then."

I was getting more scared and confused; I saw no way out of it. Hell knows what it planned to do with me, but it could be nothing good coming from a shadow. When it was about three feet from me I closed my eyes, I didn't want to see it…

"Don't you dare touch her!" Then I heard a thump. I opened my eyes and saw the shadow on the floor and Bolt beside it. "Are you alright?" He asked me, but I couldn't answer, the shadow got up and slapped him some feet away from me.

"Bolt!"

"Out of my way, stupid dog!" The shadow said as it 'turned off' its hands and began to move towards him. It seemed ready to give him another blow, but Bolt got up and moved at an amazing speed to scratch its side. The shadow held the spot for some seconds and then used the same ability it used on me to throw Bolt against a tree without even touching him, just by stretching its arm and moving it. Bolt looked hurt and tired, but he stood back up and growled at the shadow. "Don't you growl at me!" And the shadow jumped on Bolt. He, in some way, stood in his hind paws and punched it in the face. However when Bolt tried to give it another one, the shadow took him by the arm and threw him away again.

"Wow, you're better than the one I fought." He complimented as he got up.

"In every possible way, and I'm not even using energy attacks, I need that energy for your cat." The shadow retorted.

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you that you're not taking her."

"I don't want the cat, stupid dog. What I want…" Bolt had started to run towards the shadow at his amazing speed as it was talking, and had given it a head-butt in the stomach. Apparently it was a very good one, since the shadow groaned and held the spot for various seconds.

Bolt ran to where I was. "Mittens, what's happening?"

"It's… it's immobilizing me." I said, struggling.

"Soul knows how to do that as well…" He began to think. "I bet if I beat the shadow…"

"Careful, Bolt!"

Luckily he reacted in time and moved out of the way before the shadow stomped the floor with both hands together, as if they were a hammer. "That would've hurt."

"Oh, don't worry, puppy, it'll hurt anyway." The shadow said as it moved its hands from the spot. There was a small crater beneath them.

"I'll insist. Maybe you don't want her, but I won't let you touch one of her hairs while I'm standing."

"Then I'll have you merged into the ground before I do," The shadow snarled. "And by the say, are you not interested in the girl?" Bolt went quiet and stood still as he heard that.

"She… she's fine. My friends are probably taking her home. And you'll have to drag the bear back to yours."

The shadow smiled. "Of course, as you say. But back to our thing." Its eyes began to glow in a purple hue. "I'll have to use some energy to get rid of you. Doesn't matter, when you see your cat suffering I'll get it back." Some sparks began to jump on its hands. "I think this is familiar to you,"

Bolt said nothing, he began to run with that super speed around the shadow, he even began to lift some dust and leaves, making it harder to see. The shadow began to look for him in every direction, its hands still charged with that electric thing. From a moment to the other Bolt gave the shadow a head-butt in the back, throwing it to the floor. The shadow tried to electrocute him, but Bolt dodged its hand and bit its arm, I could swear that his teeth gleamed for a second or two when he did. The shadow cried in pain and violently turned around, throwing Bolt off its back. He fell perfectly well, and then turned to smile at me.

"Enough!" The shadow shouted as it rose from the floor. Its eyes changed color, turned from purple to orange, though its chest mark was still red. "Now I'm going to cook you, dog." The shadow pointed at Bolt with its palms, that began to turn orange as well and finished by throwing fire a few seconds later. Bolt was surprised by that and barely got time to get out of the way before he was roasted alive. "How's that, puppy?"

"Hot, I guess," He responded as he fled the fire, while trying to approach the shadow again. He started to outrun the attack and got ready to tackle it from behind again. However, this time, when he did, the shadow turned abruptly; two of its eyes were shinning purple again, the other two were still orange.

"Surprise!" It screamed into his face as it grabbed him with both hands and then began to attack him, one hand with fire and the other with an electric charge. Bolt yowled in pain, but the shadow wouldn't let go of him. I covered my ears, I couldn't bear to hear all that, my fears coming true, he was there, and I was here, useless, unable to help him, immobilized by that shadow. I wasn't strong enough to break free of the shadow's grip and he was paying for it.

After an eternal minute I couldn't take it anymore. "Stop it, stop it!" I yelled at the shadow, but it didn't even listen. "Please, stop it! If… if you do, I'll give you what you want!"

The shadow stopped torturing Bolt and turned to me. "Really?"

I just nodded, unable to do anything else. "Don't do it, Mittens!" The shadow threw Bolt against a tree. After that, I saw him try to get up, but he couldn't. His sides… it was horrible, one had almost no fur, and the other one was totally dark, besides the wounds the shadow had caused before that.

The shadow came back to me. "Good. Your stupid boyfriend made me spend a lot of energy; if you cooperate it'll be easier. Okay, the bear must be waiting for me, so let's get moving." It closed its eyes and its hands began to turn purple again, with that thing that looked like electricity. A minute or two went by before it looked at me again. "Okay, ready?" It asked. I just nodded, resigned. "You'll feel pain, and like you're losing something. Just don't resist and it won't hurt so much, and it'll be easier and faster." I just closed my eyes and nodded once more, ready to give it whatever it wanted… just if it meant that Bolt wouldn't suffer anymore. "Here I go."

I prepared to feel everything the shadow had told me I would. At the last moment I opened my eyes to see Bolt once more, but he was not were the shadow had left him. Subtly I searched for him in the surroundings. I couldn't spot him until…

"You're not touching her!" I heard just before Bolt jumped in between the shadow's hands and me, but its hands were so close, that the shadow touched him instead of me. I saw Bolt squirm a little more and fall to the floor. He smiled weakly at me before closing his eyes.

"NO!" The shadow shouted angrily. "Damn it!" Then if began kicking and punching Bolt over and over, before looking at me in total anger. I flinched a little and thought I was next, until the bear appeared, still carrying Penny on his back.

"Sir, we have no more time, they're coming." He told the shadow.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!" The shadow shouted, and then it just got on top of the bear and grumbled as he ran away from me. A few trees in the place had still as few flames in their trunks. A few seconds after losing sight of them I just fainted.

I woke up in the barn; everyone was there and I didn't know how much time had passed. I had everyone's eyes on me, worried. I counted them with my eyes from left to right. "Bolt!" I said as soon as I saw him, lying beside me. I lunged at him and embraced him. He was still unconscious. He was bandaged, very much, and looked terrible. And all of it because of me.

Before I could get depressed, Helang spoke. "We don't know what happened to him; what the shadow did or what will be the consequences." Then he lowered his head. "We couldn't get Penny back either…"

"He beat you?" Rhino asked, with a slight but clear tone of disappointment in his voice.

"No," Mega said. "But he fled with the girl. The bear wasn't meant to beat us, but to distract us. Everything had been planned carefully."

"Very carefully," Jonathan added. "He ran at an amazing speed for a bear."

"It was a shadow bear, Jonathan," Byte told him. "They are capable of breaking schemes and laws, just like us."

"It was my fault," I said finally, moving away from Bolt. I couldn't take that burden any longer. "Because of me, Bolt's hurt."

"And damn you're right," Helang told me, causing everyone to look at him. "I'm sorry if you expected me to console you by saying it's not, but have you heard yourself lately? You spend your time minimizing yourself, despising your progress while idolizing Bolt's. Both of you are advancing very well; we didn't tell you, but when you recovered your claws you began shinning fifteen percent more, and I'll tell you that it took the master half a year to shine three! But you couldn't realize it because you were busy sinking your own ship! You let yourself get dominated by your fears to the point that you turned them into a reality. Have you ever heard that 'a lie repeated a thousand times becomes a truth'? Well, you are the living proof of it. Every time you said you couldn't do it, every time you said you would be a burden to Bolt, no one believed you, no one but _you_. You were the only one who believed it was true, and so you became what you feared most, you made yourself useless, you made yourself a burden, and the only one who can get you out of there is YOU." And so, everyone stared at him. "Well, I'm sorry, but I had to say it."

"But you're right," Mega commented. "You could've been a little more subtle, but the point is that you've been throwing dirt on yourself. You have many talents, but you're not using them because you're busy staring at Bolt. And I mean, he's your mate and everything, but have your cards too, and you could play a pretty good hand if you learnt how to use them. Bolt himself has told you, you're not a burden, but you don't believe him. You think it's only for you to feel better, but that's not how it's…"

"Hey… I don't want to interrupt your psychology class, but…" Kass pointed at Bolt, who was beginning to move.

They all went back to him, and left me sitting there for a while. Had I really been doing that? Now I felt bad, it had been totally my fault, but not in the way I thought. _But I'll make sure it never happens again. I'll show them I can change that and I will never be a burden. I will help my Bolt._ Then I got up and went to see him. "How is he?"

"He's asking for the girl," Mega answered.

I walked over and saw that he was mumbling Penny's name over and over. A few seconds later he jumped to his paws, startling me and apparently everyone else, but Kass, of course. He moved his head from side to side, as if searching for something. "Where's Penny?" He asked after looking around several times. No one said anything, so he did something I thought he would never do again, he yelled at us. "Where is she?!"

"Easy, Bolt," Rhino approached him, his paws raised a little. "They took her away."

"Yes… yes, they took her away. I was going to save her, but someone stopped me…" He paused for a moment. "I don't remember anything else." And he lowered his gaze as he concentrated on his thoughts.

I moved slowly towards him. "Are you all right, Bolt?" But he didn't seem to hear me. "Bolt?" I insisted, and he turned to look at me. "Are you okay?"

He stared at me for a few seconds; I couldn't tell what his expression was. "Yes, I'm fine," Then I noticed that he was confused. "B-But… who are you?"

* * *

 **And YEAH, this is where the chapter ends! CLIFF-HANGER, and I love those, so don't be surprised if you find some more like this further in the story. It's just one week... seven days of waiting, yeah, not so bad, right? Anyway, thanks everyone for reading, as I said, here is where the plot will begin to thicken. Special thanks to Basbon and his always-present reviews and to tOSdude for his review on las chapter, thanks guys for supporting and encouraging me. I guess that's all I have to say right now, so, nos vemos luego!  
**


	27. Houston, we have two problems

Chapter 27: Houston, we have two problems

About three-thirty in the afternoon the shadow returned to the building with the bear, who returned to its place as a robot as soon as they were inside. The shadow then took its acquisitions of the day and went to the office of a stranger who was quite impatient for a report. On the way there, the elite shadow found someone it wasn't pleased to see, but didn't say anything, nor attacked him, and just kept moving, now with a follower behind it. Standing outside the office, the elite shadow whispered to the other one, "I want you to hold the girl and come in when I call you."

The shadow cast a displeasured expression. "And why would I ever listen to you?" Then the elite shadow's symbol and eyes began to glow. "Okay, okay, I'll do it. Geez, you don't have to get mad." And the smaller shadow took Penny into its arms, still unconscious, as the elite one knocked on the door.

"Come inside." It was heard a few moments later.

"At my signal," The elite shadow repeated before entering the office and greeting the stranger.

"Ah, it's you. I was beginning to doubt your capability for succeeding in this assignment." He chuckled from his chair. "Have you brought me what I asked you for?"

The shadow faltered a little. "Not exactly, sir, I–"

"What happened?" The stranger interrupted, clearly irritated.

"It was the pup, sir. He didn't let me take the cat's memories in peace. I had to face him, and he's improving fast, I must add."

"Then what have you brought me?"

"I have memories… but they are the pup's." The shadow answered as it extended its hand and a white orb appeared on its palm.

"Quite acceptable; but it's not what I asked for."

"I'm aware of that, sir, but I brought you a little extra, too." It snapped its fingers. _I just hate him sometimes._ The shadow thought as it carried Penny into the office. "As you'll see I brought you the girl. I imagine you can do something with her."

The stranger was silent for a couple of minutes. "Okay, this is what you'll do. I want you to put the girl into hibernation until further instructions… and you'll give those memories back to the puppy."

"What?" Both shadows almost shouted at once, then the elite one spoke up. "Sir, with all due respect, it wasn't easy to get this…"

"But it's not what I asked for. I want to know exactly which memories do you have."

"A very good part. I'm not sure how far back I went, but he's forgotten about his kitty girlfriend and his new friends, that's for sure."

"Pretty good, but it's not useful for me." Then he paused for a moment. "Take the girl to hibernation and use one of the warehouses that were emptied recently to place the memories there. Then send the coordinates to those idiots, but make it look as an accident, and assign some security to that warehouse, but not too much. I want them to have those memories back. And don't do all of this until after the second day of November."

The shadow carrying Penny finally spoke. "Sir, could you tell us what's going on here?"

The stranger sighed. "We're leaving." Before any of the shadows could speak, he waved his hand. "We're not making an attack on the day of terror, nor the days after it, we'll only collect the energy that's produced. With today's attack they'll be in turmoil and with a very close defense. We could defeat them, but we would suffer many loses. Also, with that, they'll waste these days just waiting for something to happen. We cannot attack after that, we have times of 'joy and love' incoming. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New year, until Valentine's. All of the staff that's not here is already in the south. Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru… throughout the south. They will absorb negative energy from there, though it's also time for happiness, they won't be dealing with the wolves, the hawk and a potential pillar on a daily basis. After February fourteen everyone will return here and we'll plan a large-scale attack on those idiots."

"What will be done with the kid?"

"They must not get her back. Some other time I'll send you again, either for her memories or for the cat herself, but I need something from both of his favorite girls for him to stay still."

"And where are you gonna send us?"

The stranger smiled. "Here. You are staying here."

"Sir?" The shadow, that had already left Penny on the floor due to fatigue, asked in complete confusion.

"You two, your students and some other unfortunate shadows will make sure that they don't find this place or the other warehouses while we're away. I also want you to remind them that they're facing us. Attack once or twice or bother them with something, so that they don't get to think that we're away from here."

Annoyance and frustration immediately appeared in both shadow's expressions, but neither said anything. "One more question," The elite shadow said after having counted mentally up to two hundred thousand. "Wouldn't you be giving them time to prepare if you leave for three months?"

"Yes, but I'm also giving time to ourselves to prepare, too. First, it is a lot easier to progress in the darkness than in the light. Second, we're a lot more than them and third, part of your job in staying here is to hinder them and make sure they don't progress that much." The stranger stood up from his chair and moved out of the shadows. He was human.

Both shadows opened their eyes when they saw him. Nobody in the base had seen his true form before. He seemed young, eighteen, maybe twenty. White skin, black hair, brown eyes… however his pupils shone in dark violet tones. He was wearing a full suit, an elegant one, with a navy blue tie and a fine pair of black shoes, all of it dirty and somewhat torn by time and use. Anyone who looked into that pair of eyes would have been paralyzed in fear. He walked slightly hunchbacked and had some little balls that slightly deformed his body, especially on his elbows, wrists, knees and ankles, and a bigger one in his lower back, with some more along the rest of his back, as if his spine was trying to get out of his body. His complexion was muscular and he was quite tall. "Good luck," He said to the shadows as he reached the office door.

"Wait a moment!" The shadow demanded, then shrugged as its eyes met the stranger's "W-Why don't you tell us where you want to get with all this?"

The guy smiled wickedly. "You know? They say there are two rules for success. Number one is: never tell everything you know." And he opened the door ready to leave.

The shadow stopped him again, asking, "And what's the other one?"

The guy turned to see them, smiled again and walked away.

As soon as the shadows were left alone, the elite one slapped the other. "You idiot! If the first one is _not to say everything you know_ , then why the hell would he ever tell you the second one?"

"First off all, ouch. And second, I did realize that, I just wanted to see if he would tell us."

"Yeah, sure," The elite shadow went silent for a moment. "Well, I'd love to punch you right now, but it looks like we're partners for now, and I don't crush my partners, so I'll leave the punching for when he returns." And it headed for the exit.

"Wait a moment, where are you going?"

"I'll prepare the 'rescue' of those stupid memories. I have to check it's all well covered so they don't suspect."

"Sure, sure," The shadow said as it moved to where its companion was. "But you're forgetting about the girl. She's to be in hibernation."

"You take her," The elite shadow commanded.

The other shadow began lo laugh uncontrollably as the elite one saw its partner with hatred. "Look, buddy, I'm your partner, not your servant, so you better take her to hibernation before she wakes up. Any damage she could cause will be your responsibility." And it left the elite shadow alone without saying more.

The elite shadow looked at his companion leaving in dismay and spread its hand towards Penny, lifting her up and pulling her towards its shoulder. "One of these days, I'll kill you." The shadow muttered as it left the office, heading for the hibernation zone to leave Penny there.

Meanwhile there was a quite tense situation in the barn.

Mittens' P.O.V.

"W-Wh-What do you mean? It's me, it's Mittens, Bolt." He just stared at me in confusion.

I was going to keep trying but Mega made a gesture and walked over to him. "Bolt, do you recognize anyone in here?" He asked with softness in his voice, one that I'd never heard before. Bolt moved his eyes from one of us to the next one and then shook his head. "They erased his memory, he doesn't know who we are," He sentenced.

"Wait, I remember something," We all looked at him. "But how did I get here, then? Are we still in Bolivia? And how do you know my name?"

"Bolivia? Bolt, we've never been to Bolivia." I told him.

He stared at me aggressively, almost like when I first met him.

"Bolivia!" Rhino shouted. "Bolt and Penny infiltrated one of Doctor Calico's bases in Bolivia…"

"Not now, Rhino," I interrupted him. "This is more important than your T.V. show."

"Wait," Mega told me. "Finish saying that, Rhino."

"Uh, Penny and Bolt infiltrated one of Doctor Calico's bases in Bolivia, near Lake Rogaguado, to try and access Calico's supercomputer and find Penny's father, but he was one step ahead of them, waited for Penny to reach the computer and captured her."

"How do you know that, little guy?" Bolt asked in astonishment.

"I have my sources," He told Bolt, and then turned to us. "That was the last episode aired before Bolt got lost, and in fact was the cause of it. From what he told me, he escaped from his house in an attempt to rescue Penny, but ended up in a box of parcels and got sent to New York."

"That means he doesn't remember anything but his life as Penny's guardian. He doesn't know he's an ordinary dog, about the real world or anything. His only goal must be to take care of Penny, and since she's not here…"

"She's not here?" Bolt sprang up. "Where is she?!"

"Easy, Bolt," Mega began moving towards him slowly. "She is…"

"You! You all work for the green-eyed man!"

 _Oh, not again. At least there's no bridge this time and I'm not the only one._

Before I could try and contradict him, Mega stepped forward. "It's not true, we want to help you."

Bolt stepped into combat position.

Mega stared at him in disbelief. "Are you gonna fight me?" He asked.

"Yes. You and everyone here, if necessary. I will find Penny, and you won't stop me." Then he ran towards Mega, as if he couldn't feel the pain from his wounds the shadow made.

" _Let him be,"_ Helang spoke in my head. _"Mega, be gentle."_

Mega nodded, but then Bolt increased his speed and gave the wolf a head-butt, throwing him to the floor. "Okay, where's Penny?" He asked as he began to growl.

"She could be here, or there, but here between us," He approached Bolt's ear and whispered, though I still heard him, "I assure you, she's on this planet."

Bolt seemed enraged by that comment and tried to bite Mega, but he used his hind legs to pull Bolt off of him and got up. Then Mega's eyes flashed for a second in the same purple tone the shadow's had before it began electrifying its hands. "What are you waiting for, Bolt?"

He totally bit it and ran to assault Mega, but he got up on his hind paws and gave Bolt a scratch, but a special one. Mega's claws seemed charged with something, and I got proven right when the attack also gave Bolt a small electrical shock. _I'm going to ask you about that, Mega. If I can give my claws special attributes…_

Bolt cried in pain for a moment and fell to the ground. Mega pinned him down and stared at him for some seconds, during which Bolt kept trying to get out of Mega's grip. "Let me go!" He demanded over and over.

Mega turned to Helang, who only nodded. Then the wolf looked up and inhaled deeply, and turned back to see Bolt.

"Cover your ears!" Byte commanded us.

Moments after obeying, Mega barked at Bolt just in front of his face. Then he got off and I saw him unconscious again.

"That was a superbark!" Rhino said excitedly.

"Something similar," Byte told him. "That sound, not necessarily a bark, is programmed with a wave frequency that will react in a certain way with those who hear it without any protection, obviously omitting the one who emits it. Mega used it this time to sleep Bolt…"

"So it's basically a modified superbark," Mega finished for her.

"Well," Helang commented. "He'll be asleep for some time. We have to make retrieving his memories a priority, otherwise he'll keep on believing that we work for a fictional villain and that Penny's lost because of us."

"You don't have to tell me, I had to deal with that personally before. Especially after someone joined us." I turned to Rhino, who shrugged.

"But we can't repeat your journey just for him to… hmm, on second thought…"

"Don't even think about it, Mega, there are plenty of things that could go wrong!" Byte scolded him. "We better find a shadow that's lost or distracted and interrogate it to get to know Bolt's memories location."

"I agree," Helang said. "But we can't leave him alone like this."

"I'll take care of him. It's my fault this happen and I'll start fixing it."

"Besides, if the cat can't take it, Rhino will be there and save the day!" The rodent added enthusiastically.

"Alright, everybody go home now. Jonathan, please help Mittens get Bolt inside and take him to Penny's room, maybe you'll find something there to keep him calm. Mega, Byte and me will go look for a shadow or a clue. Whatever happens today, tomorrow and overmorrow we won't go outside for any reason. Everyone will have to be in here on inside the houses. We cannot risk losing anyone else."

We all nodded to his instructions and did as he asked. The three sped out of the barn, and went looking for my pup's memories. Jonathan placed Bolt on his back with Peep's help while everyone else went back home. Once in Penny's room, he laid Bolt on his bed and Rhino and I stood there while Jonathan said goodbye and left, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Bolt woke up about at five in the afternoon, only to find himself in another place he didn't recognize, and along two other figures who were talking to each other. The dog, still with his idea about who those animals worked for, made no noise as he stood up and began moving without them noticing.

Mittens and Rhino had been talking about what could they do if something were to happen to Bolt's memories, and they hadn't got far, until they heard Mega in their heads.

" _Perhaps with a kiss, you know, fairy-tale-type kiss."_

"It could be," Rhino agreed.

"Wait a second there. We're talking about Bolt 'everyone-works-for-the-green-eyed-man-and-Penny-is-the-only-being-I-can-trust'. Do you really think he's gonna let me kiss him just like that?"

"Of course not, cat. The idea…"

" _Is that you make him fall for you again."_

Rhino nodded with a smile. Mittens blushed and turned to look a Bolt's bed, but he was no longer there. "Rhino, where's Bolt?"

"He's right there, cat, don't you… Oh…"

" _He's on the way to the door. Stop him!"_

They both ran out of Penny's room and downstairs, catching Bolt when he was about to leave.

"Don't move, Bolt!" Rhino commanded.

"I guess we'll have to do it the hard way then. Let me tell you, you're the worst guards I've ever seen."

"That's because we're not guards, wags. We're your friends." Mittens repeated.

Bolt grunted. "Liar."

"Mittens, look for something in this house that proves us right, I'll entertain him," Rhino instructed and then thundered his fingers and his neck before getting out of his ball.

"You're going to face me, boy?" Bolt asked, smiling. "You better leave and go home."

"I'm home, Bolt."

"Suit yourself." Bolt got into combat position.

"Rhino, I don't think…"

"Go, find something!"

Mittens rushed upstairs and began looking for something that might make Bolt react, while both boys stared at each other.

"Last chance, buddy; let me out of here and I won't hurt you."

"This is where real friends are tested. I'm not letting you out, for your own good, no matter how hard you bite me or punch me." The hamster answered, full of determination.

That confused Bolt and made him feel a slight something in his chest, but he didn't pay attention and rushed to fight Rhino. The rodent closed his eyes and waited patiently. When Bolt was about to give him a scratch, Rhino opened his eyes and rolled on the ground, eluding him.

"Not bad, buddy."

"I'm just warning up." Then he moved to a fairly high speed and struck one of Bolt's legs with a strength that wasn't expected, to the point that Bolt even screamed in pain.

After that, the dog stared at Rhino and began to try and bite him, but he kept rolling on the ground and avoiding him, and even got to punch him in the snout when he was too close. After a few minutes of following that style, Rhino punched Bolt in the jaw, enraging him. "Enough!" He grumbled "I'll send you back to your hole with a super bark."

Rhino smiled. "Heh, I don't think so." Then he placed his paws at his heart height, separating them a little. As Bolt made his super-bark pose, a small luminous sphere formed in between Rhino's paws. "I knew it would work when I needed it most!" He shouted excitedly and turned to Bolt. "Now, let's do it."

Bolt smiled and began to charge his super bark, while the sphere in Rhino's paws grew more and more. Both of them were getting ready for the final attack.

"Wait!" Mittens returned with something in her paws.

Rhino stopped charging and turned to her. "You found something?"

Bolt ignored the conversation and barked… a common bark. "What? Why it didn't work?" He glared at them. "What have you done to me?!"

"A favor," Rhino answered simply. "Now stay still and see what she's going to show you."

"No!" Bolt ran to the pet door.

"I'm sorry, Bolt," Rhino whispered before throwing his sphere. When it reached Bolt, he simply fell to the ground.

"What have you done to my legs?"

"I numbed them. I never meant to hurt you, man." Rhino replied. "Now, please, take a look at what she has to show you."

"Never!" Though he was still on the floor, Bolt tried to crawl to the door.

"Bolt, think a little. You're totally helpless and I just sent your legs to sleep. Don't you think we would have already hurt you if we wanted to?" Rhino saw Bolt began to think. "C'mon, just take a look at what she has in her paws."

Bolt growled, not very pleased, and turned to see Mittens. "What have you got there?"

"This," She told him sweetly as she showed him the picture of the four of them together, the one Penny had taken at the end of their trip.

Bolt's P.O.V.

 _She's… she's smiling. And a lot more than other times… She… seems happier. And there they are… the cat and the hamster… and me…_

"What…?"

"We told you, Bolt. We're your friends, your family, and she… well, she's a little more than just that." The hamster told me. I turned to see the cat and noticed that she had blushed a little.

"But… but then I…"

"Calm down, wags, I'll refresh your memory. But before… Rhino, could you give him his legs back?"

"Sure thing, cat." The hamster did the same thing he had done before, but this time the sphere gave me my legs back. For a second I considered running away again. But then I remembered that picture. I still didn't know anything about them, but the evidence was there.

They both walked to the stairs and asked me to follow them, which I did, probably out of my curiosity. They led me to the room where I woke up, and seeing it again it really didn't look like a prison. "You don't work for the green-eyed man, do you?" I asked as we arrived.

She spoke first. "Sit down, Bolt. I'll tell you everything we've been through."

* * *

Meanwhile, three figures were moving at high speeds through the city.

"We have to find those memories," Helang was saying.

"Sure thing, but…"

"But what, Mega?"

The wolf organized his ideas for a moment. "Well… I do not think it's so imperative that he has them. I mean, if the pillar had considered important, it wouldn't have allowed them to be taken… the progress he's made is probably still there."

"The pillar can act in ways no one understands," Helang explained. "You could certainly be right, but we don't know if Bolt is the pillar… and besides, there are his memories of all of us and his two friends."

"You mean his friend and his mate."

"Not if he doesn't remember her."

"Guys," Byte intervened. "There may be another solution, in the remote case we don't find them."

"Which one?" They both asked.

"Well, technically there are two or two parts of one. If we failed to find his memories, we could ask the master to find them. He could search the archives and retrieve a… 'copy' of Bolt's memories. Then he could place it in his subconscious and let them bubble back into his conscious mind."

"But that could get him kicked of the records." Mega interrupted.

"The other one," Byte continued and ignored her brother. "would be to use the strongest force of them all."

"Sugar?"

"Love, Mega, love!" Helang scolded from the air.

"I knew it, man… cannot joke these days…" Mega turned to his sister. "Like if Mittens kissed him."

"Yes, but he would have to agree. He would have to fall in love with Mittens again to make it work."

"So we have… A: Find the memories. B: Ask Master to get us a copy, though it may not be possible. C: Help Bolt get close to Mittens and fall in love with her, again, and have them kiss."

"So it is."

"Great, by the way, do any of us know what we're looking for?"

"A shadow, Mega, with or without a guest. We need someone to give away the location of the memories, and Penny too, we seem to be forgetting about her."

"I'm not trying to be pessimistic, Helang, but how are we gonna make it talk?"

"With light," The hawk responded.

"Okay… wait, you mean like purifying it?"

"The worst nightmare of a shadow is to end up being a light. If our dark little friend won't cooperate, it could be a convincing threat."

"You know how to do that?"

"Well, no… but must be no different than when we helped Bolt get Flor's shadow out. We all shoot light towards it, maximum power."

"Helang, I never thought I would say this to you… but this is a terrible plan."

"I know, Byte, but we have to hurry. We don't know what they're planning with his memories."

* * *

 **Okay, a week's a week, and here it is. Now, notes: first, the strangers "balls" that he has throughout his body, you could imagine them as tumors, though they're not. You'll see, eventually you'll see what they are. Second, "Overmorrow" is the day after tomorrow, yeah, that's how it's called, in case you didn't know "Pasado mañana", we call it in spanish. That being said, once more thanks for reading, thanks for following my story and my usual special thanks to Basbon and his always-present reviews. I think that's all for now, see ya in a week and nos vemos luego!  
**


	28. Many beginnings

Chapter 28: Many beginnings

Being it night, two wolves and a hawk were returning to their camp, frustrated all three since they hadn't found a single shadow all day long.

"We'll have to keep looking…" Mega commented.

"But not tomorrow, neither overmorrow," Helang intervened. "It's too dangerous."

"So we're gonna spend two days locked in the barn waiting for the shadows to attack?" Byte asked.

"Basically. They can't catch us off guard this time. There can be no distractions."

"Hey, have you guys seen Beta?" Mega asked from a certain distance from them.

"No, she's not here?"

"If she were I wouldn't have asked, you girl."

Byte growled at Mega's comment.

"Give me a moment." Helang closed his eyes.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'girl'?"

"Dunno, how many stars are there in the sky?" Mega retorted.

Helang opened his eyes. "Not this late, please. It was a very tiring day for you to get arguing." Then he looked at Mega. "You daughter is with her sister, helping her with something."

"Oh, really?" Mega placed on a little smile.

"You noticed too?" His sister asked.

"I would normally respond with sarcasm, but yes, I did notice. One day nothing and the next one Alpha's training in the exact same aspects as him. Though the poor boy is so clueless that he probably doesn't even know what's going on."

"It's also true that she has a rival," Helang said.

"What?"

"Her name starts with 'F' and ends with 'lor', you know."

Mega stared at Helang for some seconds. "Well… wow, I didn't notice that one."

"Me neither," Byte added.

Helang leaned on a branch. "Anyway, I suggest we all sleep, really sleep, for today. We'll need energy tomorrow."

The hawk closed his eyes, and Mega stared at him for some seconds.

"Hey, Helang," The hawk made a noise in response. "Couldn't I go out and keep looking? I mean, I know what day it is, but unless we recreate their trip, it's gonna be difficult for Bolt to fall in love with Mittens again, moreover if there's never a moment when he needs her and she shows up. And I don't think we should ask the master for a copy of his memories."

"But it's imprudent to go out alone in these days." Byte answered instead.

"I'll bring someone with me."

"Who? Bolt was the one with more progress. The second one was…" Byte opened her eyes and accused her brother with them. "No, no, no. You're _not_ taking Rhino to town to look for Bolt's memories."

"Stop me," He challenged.

She glanced furtively at him and then growled, making Helang open his eyes. "Okay, it's not time for you to get fighting. Yes, Mega, take Rhino and look for the memories. But I want you to turn tail and get back if you find more than one shadow. Did you hear me?" The wolf nodded excitedly. "Now let me sleep."

Helang closed his eyes while Mega grimaced at his sister.

"What were you saying, little girl?"

"Shut it."

No more talking and both of them lay down to sleep. But neither of them was actually asleep.

"Byte?" Mega asked in a low voice

"What now?"

"Do you think… we'll make it out of this one?"

She opened her eyes and looked into her brother's. His joy, that… that spark of joy he always had… it was fading, like a bonfire that runs out of wood to feed on. "I don't know; I hope so." She told him.

"It's just… I'm doubting my ability… I don't know if I'll be able to find those memories."

"Don't worry, we have two other options to get Bolt back." Byte smiled at him. "Besides, there's something neither of you took into account. His mind forgot her, but his heart didn't. There is a love spark in there, we just have to stir it up a bit."

"I hope you're right," Mega sighed and then placed on his childish smile again. "Anyway, I'll find those memories before you light up your little sparky thingy that you talked about." He looked at her in a challenging way.

"Oh, really? Well, we'll see about that." She retorted in the same tone and then closed her eyes to sleep. Mega did the same seconds later.

"Thank you," He whispered a few minutes later. Although almost inaudible, Byte still heard it, and smiled.

Meanwhile, at Penny's house, the girl's mother was very distressed for her, she hadn't heard from her daughter since the morning. In her school they hadn't seen her either, so she was desperately moving to and fro through the whole house, looking for something that could be any clue of her whereabouts. The three pets where still upstairs, two of them telling the third one about their adventure. Mittens was talking.

"Your barks alerted the firemen, who found you in the middle of the fire just in time, and took you to the hospital."

"The rest is known story. Penny adopted us and you two quitted the show, which, by the way, lost its thing when that happened. The four of us have lived together since then." Rhino finished.

Bolt's expression was undecipherable. The dog spent a few minutes processing it. "Well… it does sound like an adventure."

"And it was the first part, wags."

"True, now we can tell you. You're training to save the world with us and everyone who was at the barn." Rhino said full of emotion.

"Rodent, the subtlety would've been appreciated," Mittens told him, but apparently Bolt had sunk into his thoughts and hadn't listened to Rhino. "Bolt?"

"Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, well, no. I don't know… it's hard; I really want to believe you, but it's not easy to find out that my life was a total lie, that we went so far together and all of what I did back then. Although, for some reason," bolt touched his chest with a paw. "I… feel it, I feel it is true."

The both smiled at that. A silence began to form, and Rhino was the one who broke it.

"Guys, what do you say about some dinner?"

Bolt and Mittens nodded and they all went downstairs, looking for dinner. But their bowls were empty.

"True, they still have Penny,"

"What?! Who, where?" Bolt asked in a huff. "Didn't you tell me it wasn't real?!"

"The things from the show are not real. This is, wags; a shadow took her away today."

"What are those shadows? How could this happen?"

"Bolt, calm down," Rhino urged. "We'll talk to the team tomorrow, they can tell you more about this second part of our history."

"Why don't you tell me?"

"Truth is, we don't know everything there is to know. If you ask them, you'll have better chances of getting a full explanation." The hamster explained.

Bolt wasn't very convinced, but still nodded. "Okay, but what are we having for dinner?"

"Penny's mom is still here, you could get her attention."

"Her mom? I haven't seen her in a long time… wait, what about her dad?"

Neither of them knew how to answer that question accurately. "Bolt, um, the man you were looking for was also an actor. It's not Penny's father, if that's what you wanted to know." Mittens replied carefully.

"Oh, I see…"

Bolt then went to find Penny's mom. She was on a phone call when he found her, and barked to get her attention. With that, Penny's mom gave them food to all three and they had dinner, without conversation and then went upstairs again to sleep.

Rhino got comfortable inside his ball and Bolt moved to his bed, surprised when he looked back and found Mittens following him; her bed was on the opposite side of the room. "Mittens?" He asked once he was lying down. "Why…?"

She understood the message. "Oh, it's just that you and me had been sleeping together because… the nights are being very cold. But it's okay if you don't want to." The cat turned around, but Bolt stopped her.

"No, it's okay. It's not your fault that I don't remember anything." He moved aside to leave some space for her in his bed. Mittens could only feel guilty at hearing what he said. She lay next to him and, just like the first time, Bolt placed his arms around Mittens, somewhat doubtful. "Better?"

"Yes, thank you, Bolt."

"You're welcome. I hope I can remember you soon. Hearing our story… I can only imagine how close we all are and I would like to remember what we have lived together."

 _You will, Bolt. I'll make sure of that._

Penny's P.O.V.

I was in some kind of park. It was midday and the sun was shining, but I was alone, no people around me, neither animals.

"Where am I? How did I get here? The last thing I remember was a bear, and then…"

" _Don't force your mind, it all has an explanation."_

"Soul," Well, he could give me some answers then. "What happened?"

" _Uh, you're plugged, Penny. Ever seen a movie called 'The Matrix'?"_

I thought about it for a moment. Yes, I've seen it." Then I made a conclusion and got scared. "Y-You mean I'm in a…?"

" _Yes, none of this is real. You're at the shadow base. They, uh, caught you this morning and tried to take away something from Mittens. Don't worry, everyone's fine. Well, almost."_

"What are you talking about? What happened?"

" _It's not relevant now. I cannot help you escape, but I can assist you. Right now there's nothing here 'cause the program is getting started. Surely in a few hours you'll wake up home, surrounded by your pets and your mother. Do not, hear me well, do_ not _trust anything you sense with your five senses here. Trust your sixth one, it's the only one that won't fall in their game. I don't know what could they try to do to you while you are here, but don't worry. I'll stay beside you as long as I can. They'll probably try to use you to blackmail Bolt somehow."_

"Then I'm stranded here, in a false reality, with no one to talk to…"

" _Yeah, and I'm a painting or what?"_

"No one I can actually _see_ to talk to, no way to entertain me and for an indefinite time. Did I miss something?"

" _Nope, but you could use this time to meditate a lot, or two lots. At least upon awakening you'll have progressed in many things. It is also true that you can_ see _me."_ Then I saw something, a brilliant… thing, that slowly took the silhouette of a person, only the outline though. _"You only had to ask for it, and I can show myself to you."_ He told me as he walked over to me.

"How were you, Soul, how was your appearance… before?"

There were a few seconds of silence, in which he placed one of his hands on his chin. " _I think that's a story for another day, Penny. I have to go, but don't worry, I'll try and come daily, except for tomorrow, you know, Halloween. And don't worry… again, I'll take care of them. You relax, and try to see this as an opportunity to meditate. A forced opportunity to meditate for some indefinite time."_

He finished saying that and began fading until I was left alone.

"Trapped in my own mind. How ironic, and more considering what you've told me, Soul."

* * *

Elsewhere, a few blocks from Penny's house, two sisters were chatting a little.

"So…" Beta began.

"So?" Alpha echoed.

"How long have you felt this?" She asked, looking at her sister with interested eyes.

Alpha jumped a bit by the question. "What? No… I don't 'feel' anything… I-I don't know what you're talking about." Alpha smiled nervously, but Beta didn't move. "Is it so obvious?"

"For us, yes. For him, no," She answered, calming Alpha a little. However she still looked down. "What is it?"

"I can't figure it out. I don't even know why did I began to try and get his attention in the first place," She said, her head still down.

"Well, I was going to ask you that."

Alpha remembered that day. "The park day… I felt horrible about our past, the way I couldn't do anything when we were puppies. Basically what happened to Mittens, but with me and Delta. I just saw how he always takes control of things, how he keeps calm and solves it… I felt useless compared to him. I began to get depressed in silence, but…" She smiled. "He noticed… he showed me qualities I didn't even know I had. And he gave me the best advice I've ever heard. I think it was there, he caught my attention there. He's so… so innocent, so pure, so… so cute." She finished with a dreamy look.

"Well, there's your answer."

"But that doesn't solve the fact that he doesn't feel the same…"

"First of all, we don't what he feels. Second, feelings change."

"Or maybe not…" Alpha looked down.

Beta took a deep breath. "If you're gonna be like that, then I'm going back to camp."

"Wait, I need to talk to someone!"

"But you're not talking to me, you're suffering aloud! You're not event thinking of a solution! Do you want my advice?" Alpha nodded. "Go, spend some time with him, get to know him, the rest will come alone."

Alpha looked at her sister gratefully. "Okay, thanks."

"No problem."

After that, they hugged each other and Beta left. Alpha remained outside and looked at the moon with her dreamy eyes again.

A similar situation was taking place with Jonathan and Flor.

"I would normally help you, Flor, but I promised myself I wouldn't intervene. You'll have to do it on your own."

"It's just that," The Border collie gave a slight growl. "He's so… _clueless_!"

Jonathan smiled. "Yes, he is. But that just makes him cutter to you, doesn't it?"

"You're right," Flor sighed.

"Just spend more time with him, play with him, show him something that'll get his attention."

"Like what?"

"Uh, uh, uh, I promised myself I wouldn't help either of you…"

"What do you mean, 'either'?"

Jonathan looked at Flor. "You haven't noticed?" Flor shook her head. "There's someone else in the group interested in Peep. But I'm not telling you who it is, or when did she start. Though, little Pepe hasn't noticed anything unusual." Then Jonathan lay back on his bed. "Now, I highly recommend you sleep. Tomorrow could be a complicated day."

"Sure," Flor lay down too, but didn't close her eyes. She looked at a half-bred dog sleep until her eyes closed on their own.

Day thirty-one started with everyone receiving an alarm clock in their head, provided by Mega, who imitated a rooster poorly. _"Cock-a-doodle-doo! Good morning, you sleepyheads! Everyone at Bolt's house, Peep's house or in the barn ASAP, please!"_

Bolt in particular got startled by this. "What was that? I heard someone in my head! Did you hear it too?"

"Calm down, Bolt. He was one of us."

"One of us? What do you mean, Rhino?"

The hamster yawned before answering. "Today, you'll catch up with what we've done recently. But first, breakfast."

Rhino left the room and Bolt stayed in silence. Then he remembered that he had slept with Mittens and turned to see her. She was asleep, with a smile on her face. He kept still, not making a noise, and kept watching her for some minutes. Unable to help it, he began caressing her head slowly, to what she responded purring, still in her sleep. Bolt then moved closed to her, to the point where there were no more than two inches separating their faces. It seemed as if he wanted to do something, but couldn't find the motivation to do it. After a few moments, Bolt shook his head and moved away from Mittens, looked a few more seconds in her direction and then left the room. She opened her eyes as soon as he did.

"So, you _do_ remember me, don't you, wags? Somehow, you still do." She said softly to herself, smiling.

Bolt went out without even going through the kitchen first. He went to the barn immediately, wanting some space to think. Such was his surprise to find the wolf he had faced the previous day inside, his back towards the entrance. Before the dog could think of something, he heard the wolf… singing?

 _When the heart rules the mind_

 _One look, and love is blind_

 _When you want the dream to last_

 _Take a chance, forget the past_

"What's that?" Bolt asked curiously, as he approached Mega still wary.

"Oh, hi, Bolt. Didn't hear you come in." The wolf greeted with his smile. "It's a song, you know, Master sang it to us from time to time, and eventually it got stuck in my head."

Bolt stared at Mega for some seconds. "I'm sorry, but I still don't remember you. Could you remind me what have we been doing?"

"What? Didn't Mittens and Rhino tell you?"

"Well, yeah. But only up to the part where Penny took a picture of us all and we started living a normal life."

"Huh, so they left me the last months, why, how kind of them. Okay, I'll tell you, but first you oughta have breakfast, boy." Then Bolt nodded and headed for the entrance. "I'm Mega, by the way," Bolt nodded once more, at the entrance, and left Mega alone. "Now… I'll probably skip the part of your love life, at least while you process the rest."

Bolt hurried back inside and rushed to the kitchen, where Mittens was eating, smiling still.

"Hi, Mittens," He said as he saw her, and quickly began to eat quickly.

"Hi, wags," She answered calmly. "You in a hurry?"

"Mega said he would tell me about what's happened, but after I ate something." He said after swallowing the first bite. "By the way, where's Rhino?"

"In front of the television," She said without giving it a major importance.

Bolt ate quite fast and went out to the barn again; hoping Mega would talk to him. This time, Mittens and Rhino where with him. Mega was still there, but accompanied by his siblings.

"Who are they?" Bolt asked immediately.

"Easy," Mega replied. " She's Byte and he is Helang. Us three are working on recovering your memories. And speaking of that, Rhino, can we talk a moment, please?" The hamster nodded and both rodent and wolf moved out of earshot.

"Hi," Byte greeted, approaching Bolt.

The dog instinctively looked at Mittens, waiting for her to tell him something. The black she-cat nodded, giving him the hint that it was legit. "Hi," He answered with more confidence.

"How are you, Bolt?" Helang asked.

"Well, fine… I guess."

"Don't worry, buddy, we'll get your memories back and it'll all make sense."

"Um, excuse me… uh…"

"Helang," The hawk told the shepherd.

"Helang," Bolt echoed. "When I recover my memories, will I forget this?"

The hawk looked at Bolt for a moment, then turned to Mittens and to Byte. "Honestly, I don't know, Bolt. I understand there are two possibilities, and one of them would be that you forget what you're living right now. The other one would be that you recover them without losing anything. In that case, you'll remember all this, and you'll recall that you didn't have your memories by this time. You'll see it all with a different perspective."

"Thanks for answering."

"Be-awesome!" Rhino shouted suddenly, catching Bolt's attention. Seconds later, both of them joined the rest. "Guys, I'm going out with my new comrade here to search for Bolt's memories." He announced, full of emotion.

"You're doing what?" Mittens asked.

Helang spoke up. "Since we need all of you here, safe, but Mega insisted on keep the search going, we accorded that Rhino was the best choice. No one can go out alone these days, so…"

"Yeah, let's go! Tremble, shadows, Rhino is here!"

"On the condition that they will come back if they find more than one shadow, right, boy?"

Mega nodded. "That's right, Helang."

"Wait," Bolt intervened. "Mega, you said you were gonna tell me what had happened."

"True," The wolf lay down. "My word's my word. Rhino, we'll go out after I tell Bolt what's happening here." Rhino climbed into the wolf's back and whispered into his ear. "Yeah, of course."

"Okay then, let's see this from your perspective."

They all made a circle and went silent. Bolt began to pay close attention to Mega's words.

In the meantime, in an almost abandoned building, a shadow was talking to its outstanding students.

"So, it turned out that he brought back memories, but from the dog and not from the cat. So basically, his mission went to waste…"

"Yeah, if getting the girl and making what you couldn't in a ton of tries is a waste, then yes." Said the elite shadow, appearing at the entrance. "Questions?"

"Yes, I have one." The shadow answered. "Why are we left here to rot while everyone's outside, playing?"

"For our performance. You've failed like a million times since we met the white dog. Your punishment is to stay here."

"Oh, really? And what was your mistake then?"

"You just told your students about it."

There was a silence of half a minute length. Then Alex stood up. "Excuse me…" He addressed the elite shadow.

"I have no name, kid, just tell me what you want to say."

"Do you still have the dog's memories?" The elite shadow extended its hand and showed them the orb with Bolt's memories. "Great."

"But we have to give them back, it was an order."

"When?" The young shadow asked.

"Any day after November two."

Alex looked at Shade, who understood the message and spoke up. "And have you ever thought about gaining an advantage of this?"

What so you mean, Shade?" His mentor asked.

"Well, if what Alex and I have in mind is the same, then we could modify his memories, so when the dog gets them back, he'll be a little more… sympathetic to us shadows."

"Yes, November two is the first day you can give the memories back, but it doesn't mean it has to be on that day. We can keep those a little longer and win something from it."

"And how long would that take, exactly?" The elite shadow asked, though it had to admit it was a brilliant idea, and one that it hadn't thought about.

Shade answered again. "According to my calculations… month and a half, working half a day, six days a week."

The elite shadow chuckled. "Yeah. Forget about it."

"Well, they're my students, not yours. Let's think about this deeply. What would be the reward for having the puppy here by the time the boss is back?"

The elite shadow got to thinking. "Fine. But tell me why the hell it'll take so long."

"Because entering someone's mind is like hacking a computer. It can be very hard, and it varies depending on each one's mind. But the reason why we want that much is because we want to block those fake memories, so his friends won't be able to correct them. We'll also install a couple of things to help the doggy sympathize with us. It won't fail, but will take time to perform perfectly, and quite some energy." Alex said.

"But the results will be totally worth it," Shade added.

Both adult shadows looked at each other for a moment. "Fine, do it." They both glared at each other, for they had said it at the exact same time. The elite shadow gave them Bolt's memories, under Alex's and Shade's care. Both young shadows began to work as soon as they had them within reach.

* * *

 **And yeah, here it is! Thoughts on this? We're coming closer to the middle point of this story. (If you haven't checked, it has 64 chapters, with three more for things like curiosities about the characters and all, so yeah, you'll know from me for quite some time) Anyway, thanks for reading, special thanks to my friend Basbon and his ever-present reviews, and to everyone following the story, though not everyone reviews, it means a lot to know that you guys have this followed and/or favorite. So, I think I've said it all... nos vemos luego!**


	29. Progressing slowly

Chapter 29: Progressing Slowly

Back in the barn, Mega was finishing up telling Bolt some of their recent adventures and feats. Alpha, Delta and Flor had joined in, while Beta and Kass were with Jonathan and Peep inside this last one's house.

"Then I aimed at the truck and shot before it went any further. It was on fire moments later and exploded after that. We had to run, and fly, away from there."

"True. The next day Rhino showed us that through the news. By then I still had my… companion inside my head." Flor remembered.

"Well," The wolf stood up, with Rhino on his head. "I think Rhino and I have some memories to find. So, we're going."

"Yes, we're going!" The hamster said enthusiastically.

The wolf and the rodent both left the barn, moving towards the city.

"Mittens," Byte called as they left. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," She answered, getting up.

Both moved a little away from the rest, without leaving the barn.

"Well," the she-wolf began. "We know that for those two to find the memories it will take an eternity."

Mittens nodded, and then they both heard Mega complain, _"Hey, a little faith won't hurt you."_

Byte ignored the comment and continued, "But it's not the only way we can get your puppy back. If we get him to fall in love with you again and you give him a proof of your love strong enough, like a kiss, his heart will impose on his mind and he'll remember everything."

"How does that work?" The cat asked curiously.

"Well, Master always dealt with the three skill steps. First one is the brain. It's guided by logic and reason, as well as relying on the five basic senses. It's a good one, but not the best option. Cheating the brain is extremely easy, just like cheating the senses. Surely Rhino must've seen a couple of T.V. shows that prove you that, and play mind games with you. Also, its calculations may fail. Second and third complement each other. They can work independently but do so much better when together. The second is your nonphysical mind. Very skillful, and all of the extraordinary things come from here, or they start here, but it can be like a small child: If you don't keep it occupied with something, it can get distracted very, very easily. It can take a whole lifetime to calm the mind, which is said to give inner peace, but that's for later. The third step is the heart; not the organ itself, but rather all the things associated to it. Most of the premonition lies here, like a permanent memory. The peak of someone's ability is defined by the heart, by how you let yourself be guided by your positive feelings. Bolt's memories were erased from his brain and mind, but not from his heart. That spark is still there, and it's our job to revive it."

"But there's something you're not considering, Byte," Helang intervened from the top of a beam. "The spark is there, but for something to burn it needs fuel, otherwise the slightest draft will turn it off. Bolt's memories of Mittens are that fuel."

"Then we'll make more fuel," Byte replied. "Ready to re-teach your loved one how to be a normal dog?"

Mittens smiled. "Sure, it'll be fun."

"Let's go then," Byte smiled too.

"Don't go away from here." Helang told them.

"We won't."

Byte and Mittens approached Bolt.

"Bolt?"

"What is it, Mittens?"

"Could you accompany me outside?"

"Sure," Then he stopped. "But, uh, Helang told us not to leave the barn."

"That's why I'm going with you," Byte spoke up.

Bolt nodded and stood up, then followed both girls out of the barn.

"Very well, Bolt, we're gonna teach how to be a normal dog."

"Haven't we gone through this before, Mittens?"

"Yes, but we've decided that until we get your memories back this is the best thing to do."

"O-Okay," Bolt said a little doubtful.

Soul's P.O.V.

This could be getting out of control. I don't want to judge the skills or wisdom the pillar possess, but things are pretty screwed there, so I'll just… see what I can find.

As usual, I asked the superior beforehand.

"Hey, sorry to ask but…"

"Not this time. No matter what you say, the answer is no." He answered immediately. A silence formed and I even considered the possibility of leaving before he said something else. "The answer is in the records."

"Yes, I know as much. But for that answer I have to know the identity of whoever's leading that organization. I need to know who it is, why did it fell into the shadows. I need that information!" You know, it's said that you find a lot of peace when you die… but I was getting really, really frustrated.

"Your physical friends hold the answer you seek."

"How?"

"You know two females that worked for him. If you ask the right question, you'll have access to the records of the dark being that your team is facing."

"That's not possible; Beta has told me a million times, the stranger's always covered. Nobody knows his identity, not even what species he is. For the love of… He could be a mosquito! A mosquito! The greatest dark mind of our times could be a mos-qui-to!"

"Well then, go find your mosquito." And after that he just cut off communication with me.

 _Great, the most_ helpful _conversation I've had since I got here._

* * *

Meanwhile, Mega and Rhino were looking around for a shadow in the city.

"I never imagined seeing so little shadow activity in these days. By now I expected something like a burning store or an… attack of some type."

"Are they that crazy?"

"It's like they get injected with sugar, Rhino. Dark sugar. The move like drunks, like crazy and don't stop… Oh, look." Something had caught Mega's attention and he approached an alley. "Hey, here's where I met Bolt… or where I made contact with him."

"Really?" Rhino asked. "How was that?"

"Well, Bolt came out that morning tracking our scents and ended up here, he was probably hungry so he entered the alley and…"

"Hey! What are you doing in my alley?!"

"And this guy showed up."

Mega turned and found the Pitbull, still with the scar he had caused. However, something seemed different in him. "Look, buddy, I don't want to punch you again, we were just passing by."

The Pitbull chuckled somberly. "Maybe you won that time, but this time I've got a power you'll never understand and…"

"Let me guess, 'that will give you eternal glory without the need of rigorous training, with guaranteed results at the moment you wake up'? Yes, I've heard that propaganda." Mega stepped into combat position. "The thing is, buddy, that stopping animals that are foolish enough to believe that, like you, is what I do for a living."

The Pitbull growled and his eyes began to glow in dark tones, then he threw himself at Mega. "Rhino, we've just found our shadow. No we only have to get it to talk." Mega moved out of the way quickly and bit the Pitbull's tail, making him howl in pain. The wolf then gave him a blow in the head, leaving the dog stunned and almost knocked out. The Pitbull got up a few seconds later, his eyes brighter now.

"Fine, we'll do it the hard way." The dog made a shrill noise that forced both of them to cover their ears. A few moments later a couple of shadows appeared in the entrance to the alley. "Now meet my friends."

Rhino began to focus his energy to help Mega in battle, but to his surprise the wolf ran off, jumping over the shadows blocking the entrance.

"What? Mega, what…?"

"We promised to leave if there was more than one, remember?"

"Too bad, I was getting my sphere ready…"

"Wait!" Mega stopped dead. "Don't stop. We have to make sure they don't follow us." Rhino nodded and placed his paws near each other. "At least it wasn't a total waste of time. We now know the unfortunate shadow that will tell us the location of Bolt's memories."

Mega began running again and Rhino loaded the first sphere. He turned back and saw both shadows following them.

"Taste… the fury of Rhino!" He threw the sphere to one of them, who didn't seem to care until it was lying on the floor, immobile.

"Good shot, one more, Rhino!"

"A moment, please…" The hamster began to charge again. This time, however, the shadow moved out of the way when he shot. "Damn it!"

"Got out of the way?"

"Yes,"

"Typical. The first one won't care, the second one will, and dodge. Okay," Mega reached a corner and turned right, slowing down in the process. Then he whispered, "When it reaches the corner and turns to follow us, you shoot."

Rhino charged a sphere and kept quiet. A few seconds passed before the shadow turned in the corner still in persecution.

"Now!" Mega shouted.

Rhino wasted no time and shot. The shadow was so close it had no time to react and fell flat to the ground.

"Well, let's go notify Helang of this. We've found our talking shadow, heh; I bet the girls are not progressing so fast." Mega said before running off to the barn.

When they both saw Penny's house in the distance, they could also appreciate that Bolt was outside in the garden along with Mittens and Byte. There was a branch in the floor near them, so they supposed the girls had been reminding Bolt how to do common things. Mega began to hum as she approached her sister, who was talking to Bolt.

"Hi, girls," He waved when they were close.

They both turned to see him and answered the greeting. "Hi," Then Byte spoke. "Back so soon?"

"Let's say that we found someone to interview. But he wasn't alone and we made a promise to Helang. And by the way, we have to inform him." Mega headed for the barn, still with Rhino on his back, and began humming again.

Byte stopped him. "Wait a second, are you humming?"

"Yeah, something wrong with that?"

Byte's eyes widened. "I can't believe it, you're nervous!"

"What? Of course not!" Mega defended himself.

"Yes you are! That's the song Master sang to us, you only repeat it when you're nervous about something."

"Not true!"

"Yes, it is."

"Fine, say whatever you want. I have the right to hum and sing whenever I want to." Without saying more, Mega hurried into the barn.

"Why would he be nervous?" Bolt asked.

"I guess it's just the pressure. We don't know anything about the whereabouts of your memories, and even if they found a shadow to interrogate, it could be weeks before he did so." Byte paused. "Well, as I was telling you, it's the heart the one that guides you to reach your true potential. When you don't know what to trust, you can use your heart and listen to it. Mittens told me how you reacted when they told you about your adventure."

"Yes," The dog recalled. "I had a lot of doubts about all of that, but there was something inside of me telling me it was true."

"It is true, and you two are inseparable."

Bolt turned to see Mittens, who smiled at him. The dog began to get lost in those green eyes and blushed slightly, without saying anything. She didn't look away either and slowly began to move towards him. When they were inches away, she suddenly embraced him, and he corresponded such gesture, still with his cheeks red.

"We're back," Mega's voice sounded suddenly nearby. "What's up?"

The two of them parted quickly. "Nothing," Byte responded instead of them. "What did Helang tell you?"

"Well, in two days, we'll go shadow-hunting. Then we'll make it talk and get Bolt's memories back." The wolf announced proudly.

"So it is; we'll recover those memories or my name's not Rhino the superhamster."

Meanwhile, in a building almost totally abandoned, four young shadows were working with someone's memories.

"So…" Bud was saying. "Are you gonna move those memories for the dog to think we're on his side?"

"Not only that," Shade replied. "We'll move a couple other things too. But first we have to access them."

"We can't change anything at the moment," Alex went on. "I know we asked for month and a half, but I was expecting to unlock them in no more than a day."

"Why is it so difficult?" James asked.

"I'm not sure, I guess it has something to do with… luminosity or lightness or something like that. The dog is very affiliated with the light, it'll probably take us half a week to actually unlock them…"

"The good news is that, once we do, we can turn all that light into darkness, right, Shade?"

"Oh, yeah."

Both Bud and James went silent, since the brains were Alex and Shade, they couldn't make many comments on the topic. "Well, I would prefer to directly attack the group. I haven't fought well in a while."

"Actually, I think a stealth attack would do best."

"You say that because you're not good at fighting." Bud said.

"You're only good because of your complexion! Look at you! You're a giant shadow, you'll win in combat 'cause you're bigger. It's better to be stealthy, cautious…"

"Blah, blah, blah; To hell with stealth, James, I could go and crush them."

"Well, I could get close and steal information without them realizing."

"Can you both shut up?" Shade interjected. "You are just like our mentor and his companion, fighting for any stupid thing."

"But you're right,"

"Who's right, Alex?"

"You three," He replied.

"What?" The all asked.

"Well, the important part of this is altering the memories, but we could go further than that. When he gets them back, his friends will try and stop him from doing anything stupid. That's where our ideas come in, we need a method to ensure that the dog will arrive to this base with his memories altered inside."

"Well then, that's why your name's Alex."

"What does that has to do with anything, Shade?"

"Don't you know who Alexander the Great is?" They all shook their heads. "Ush, forget it! But Alex is right. If we go further, we could impress our mentor and his partner, and win like a promotion or something."

"I like the way you guys think,"

"Yeah, I'm in too."

"Okay, but let's keep working for now."

From the outside of the room, both shadows were watching the younglings work.

"The kids have a skillful mind, I never expected them to come up with those ideas, not one of them."

"I know, I haven't thought about it either. Should we help them?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I've just decided that this will be their test. Their performance in this task will decide their position within the organization."

"And when did you decide that?"

"Half a minute ago."

"Let me see, you've just decided that you're gonna evaluate _my students_ in an assignment that's not official and give those reports to the boss?"

"Totally." The shadow stared at its partner with a look of displeasure. "What? Don't tell me you like the kids."

"No, but they've just finished their training. They can do other assignments before being tested."

The elite shadow thought for a moment. "Fine, but I'll still record their methods and progress. For register only."

"Whatever," The shadow moved towards the exit, but before it could leave someone came in running.

"Sir!" The stranger knocked down the shadow and stood on top of it. "I have something to report!" It was the Pitbull.

The elite shadow began to burst out laughing, while the other one was underneath the dog. "Okay… but get off."

"What? Oh, sorry, sir." The Pitbull moved away from the shadow and let it get up. "I have important news."

"What did you find?"

"The wolf and the rat, both of them in my alley a few hours ago… but they ran away when found I wasn't alone."

"Cowards, then…" The elite shadow sentenced.

"No, you idiot. They're aware that today we have the upper hand, that's why they left."

"Do you know what they were doing in your alley?" The elite shadow continued, ignoring its companion.

"No, sir, but they weren't planning to stay there. They moved from one place to another, as if…"

"Looking for something." The shadow finished. "They must be looking for one of us."

"And why would they do that, pea brain?"

The shadow stared angrily at its companion. "They're probably looking for someone who can tell them the location of the memories."

"What shall we do about it?" The Pitbull asked.

The elite shadow smiled darkly. "Well…"

* * *

 **And it's up to here for now. One week, just one week. And I still dare say the best is yet to come. Thanks for reading, thanks for following, favoriting, thanks for supporting, my special thanks to Basbon and his ever-present reviews, and to tOSdude too. Thanks guys, I really appreciate your support. Anyway, guess that's all I have to say right now, nos vemos luego!  
**


	30. Target captured, Identity confirmed

Chapter 30: Target captured, identity confirmed

Halloween ended without any apparent move from the shadow forces, which confused both wolves, but not the hawk; same situation occurred next day. By then, Penny's name was on the missing people list and the police were on the case; her mother, worried, hadn't stopped looking for something that could tell her where her little girl was. Within the team, Mega and Byte were still in their little competition, but never denying help to the other one if he/she needed it. The first of them, along with Rhino, kept looking for the Pitbull, since every time they found him somewhere, he moved away before they could come back with support, and was never alone. Somehow, the shadows blocked Mega's telepathic communication whenever they were near that Pitbull. Byte and Mittens kept working with Bolt, showing him the same situations than the first time on how to be a normal dog. He would always do as told and was slowly recovering his confidence in the team, particularly in Mittens. Almost every day, they would all conspire together to leave them both alone for a while. Bolt himself couldn't interpret those moves, neither the insinuating looks they gave him when he was with the she-cat. But he enjoyed her company, and felt warm in his chest when he was with her. A couple of girls noticed that they were interested in the same, clueless, cute, dog, and began a "friendly" competition… at least for the moment. Kass began to disappear from time to time again, sometimes all day long. Finally, the group had agreed not to train in front of Bolt, nor to tell him what he was capable of, until he had processed the normal dog part again.

The four young shadows had kept working. Alex and Shade broke into Bolt's memories after a week and began altering them. However, it was still hard to move anything, for the very same reason it had been hard to unlock them. Bud and James spent some time with their mentor, and sometimes went to the city, either to recruit animals in wrong paths or just to "have fun", which was mostly stopped by Helang. The elite shadow was always guarding the Pitbull, and seldom met with its partner. Whenever they did, they would still argue about anything, important or not.

Soul kept Penny updated with what happened in the real world, as well as he progressively began to appear less and less, not only with her, but with everyone. His three students didn't understand such attitude, for he had never disappeared like that before. The girl, for her part, had "lived" within the program all the time. Conscious that it wasn't real, she only covered her basic needs to keep her brain happy in its demand for food, water and sleep. Most of the other time she spent it calming her mind and meditating. Soul did help her sometimes, and she got to know him better, though he never mentioned his past.

In the twinkling of an eye it was December, the cold was still going on and snow sometimes became present. Being the seventh day of the month, after eating something, Mega and Rhino went out as usual, as Byte and Mittens began working with Bolt, who was almost ready to return to training and spent most time playing those days. Helang called Kass and Jonathan before they got into anything else and shortly after, the three of them left the place heading for the city.

"Were are they going?" Alpha asked.

"Let me check," Byte closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them, remarkably excited. "They're gonna try and capture the Pitbull today."

"Really?" Bolt and Mittens asked at once, then looked at each other.

"Yes, but it's just the first step. The shadow could spend weeks without saying anything, regardless of what we try."

There was a small silence that lasted an eternity for everyone, until Peep intervened. "I say… lest keep playing."

Everyone looked at him. The clueless dog had been training a lot and progressing big time, especially with Helang, but without losing his spark of innocence.

"Sure, buddy," Bolt said and began running after him. However, the rest of them stayed where they were for a few more minutes.

 _"Hi there, I hope I'm not interrupting anything,"_

"Hi, Soul," Was the general response from the group.

" _Flor, Beta, I'd like to talk to you."_

"We have told you, Soul, we don't as to whom or what is the leader of the organization."

Soul sighed. _"I know. It's just that I'm getting desperate. I really want to know something that could at least narrow my search radius."_

"We understand, Master," Byte told him. "Pitt's known to be secretive."

"Pitt?" Delta asked. "Didn't you just told us that you don't know his identity?"

" _We don't,"_ Soul affirmed.

"Then why 'Pitt'?"

" _Simple,"_ Mega called in everyone's minds. _"You take the word 'tipo', which stands for 'guy' in Spanish, and you invert it you get 'opit'. Then you take away the 'o', and add another 't' at the end, which gives you a four-letter name: Pitt."_

"So we call it like that 'cause we have no idea of his identity." Byte complemented.

"Sure."

Peep returned with Bolt walking besides him. "Why did you stop playing?" Mittens asked him.

"Well, it's not the same if you're not playing too." Mittens turned to see him, somewhat surprised. Bolt blushed and began to speak quickly. "If you're all not playing! If we're not playing! I-It's n-not fun if we're all not playing… t-together, you know."

She looked at the shepherd sweetly, whose face was totally red. However she didn't get the chance to answer, for Helang's voice made presence.

 _"Byte, we need you here,"_

"What happened?" She asked.

" _We've got him, but he needs sedative and to be moved to camp. Jonathan, Kass and Rhino are already on their way back."_

"Okay, I'm on my way," Communication with the hawk broke and she looked around. "Well, I guess I don't have to say that I have to go, so I'll see you all tomorrow." Everyone said goodbye and she ran off into the city.

"Now that I think about it," Alpha said. "Why has nobody discovered them? I mean, it can't be normal to see a wolf with a hamster on its head just passing by."

"It's the area," Flor answered. "Shadows tend to choose places with few people around, in order to be capable of moving freely and without worrying about a human catching them."

"…Sure, I understand."

A couple of seconds later Jonathan appeared in the distance, running at high speed and with Kass and Rhino on his back. The three arrived with the rest and lay down, all of them had a couple of wounds and stains.

"What happened?" Bolt asked them.

"There was a… confrontation." Kass said.

"The Pitbull had more company this time," Rhino added. "Normally he was with one or two guards, but today there were six of them, that's why Helang hurried with Jonathan and Kass to help us." The hamster paused and breathed a couple of times. "Fortunately, we were able to defeat them. That's when he called Byte. They must be moving him into their camp now. Though, I don't know where they're gonna place him, I mean, it's a camp!"

"They'll prepare something," Jonathan told him. "But we know it'll be some time before the shadow says anything."

Everyone nodded at his statement and kept on talking about the subject.

Meanwhile, in the building, both adult shadows were evaluating the progress the younglings had made with manipulating the dog's memories. They were talking when another shadow entered the place.

"Sir! The attack has finished. They took the dog, as you imagined they would." The newcomer reported.

"The thing is that we didn't _imagine_ it. We knew that was exactly what they were going to do, just as we knew they would chase that Pitbull until they had him." The shadow turned to its students. "How much longer will we have to wait?"

"Week and a half in the best timing," Shade answered. "Two weeks in the worst."

The elite shadow stood up and spoke. "Then I'll tell him not to talk for two weeks and two days."

"So basically it will be our Christmas present for them. Although I wouldn't say it will be merry when he has them back." The shadow commented. "But… Hmm, I'm pretty sure they'll have his communications blocked."

"Then I'll have to go to their camp and tell him face to face."

"That doesn't sound… well, do whatever you want. But if you're doing so, take Bud and James. They're always arguing about doing a direct attack or a silent one, which in this case, works pretty well in combination."

"Then I'll take those two kids and have them distract the wolves and the hawk while I sneak in and give our Pitbull the message."

"Actually, sir," Alex commented, without stopping his work. "I think you'd do better if you're in the distraction with Bud. James' complexion is exactly why he would not last on an attack head-on; but it suits perfectly for a stealth approach to deliver the message while you fight them."

The elite shadow thought on it for some seconds; while it wouldn't admit out loud that it was a far better idea, the young one had a point. "Fine, that's what we'll do. Therefore, memories should be returning home between twenty-three and twenty-four. Merry Christmas, team."

Penny's P.O.V.

"Penny, are you alright, darling? You haven't left your room for some weeks for anything that's not eating or drinking water, do you feel sick?" That was my mom, or rather, her voice. They were really placing some effort in making me believe that I was home. Everyone was here; Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, mom, Diego and Fer, their pets, the three Labrador retriever siblings… everyone but Soul's kids. It was just for them that I hadn't given in. The two wolves and the hawk had stopped me from falling in their game more than once.

"It's nothing, mom. I'm fine," I knew it was fake, but I felt I had to answer… and sometimes I would almost give in and just go hug everyone, just to remember that feeling."

 _"Even if it's not real?"_

That was the other thing. He was coming less and less to visit me. I know Soul has other things to do, but it wouldn't hurt him to come a little more often. He's the only real being I can talk to right now.

"Even if it's not real, Soul. Sometimes, I wish I could go outside and hug everyone, just to feel that warmth again."

" _You could do it, though I wouldn't. You and I know that everything here is being monitored. The only reason they haven't kicked me out is because they don't know how to. Try to concentrate, empty your mind and meditate more. I'm sure when you wake up you'll have a handful of skills to discover."_

I didn't want to empty my mind! I didn't want to meditate more, I wanted to leave! I knew it was good for me to meditate this much, but it felt just so…

" _Lonely."_

I sighed. "Yes."

 _"Loneliness is not a problem. Many people are afraid of being alone, to the point that they beg for company, to an extent of doing anything to get attention, or even in some drastic cases, to marry someone, anyone, just to avoid living alone. I spent alone a good part of my life, it's not…"_

"Why?"

He sighed. He always sighs before telling me that it will be another time when he tells me his story. _"Story for another day, Penny."_ Just like that.

"Even so, this loneliness is unpleasant, because I'm not alone. I'm surrounded by copies of my loved ones that are trying to make me believe this is real and that I shouldn't worry. But I know it's not real and that if I listen to them, they win!" I was on the verge of tears; I had been holding that for a month.

" _They win, and we would lose you."_

I sat on my bed, picked up my legs laid my head into them, bursting into tears. I didn't care that Soul was there, the guy had never expressed any emotion. Though he was dead, he seemed so… so…

" _So cold? Heh, that's a common mistake. Or it would be, if I had other human friends like you. No, Penny, I'm not cold; I keep that warmth inside, and let it out when someone needs it."_ I suddenly felt a couple of arms around me and a mild, pleasant warmth. I raised my head from my legs and there he was, holding me in his yellowish-light body. He vaporized my pity, my sadness… he took it all away. I felt safe and comfortable in this embrace. _"Because I know… I know that someone will need it, sooner or later."_

"What did you do, Soul?" I got surprised by that. "A-And why did you let me finish the question without interrupting me?"

" _Because I thought you needed it, the answer to both questions. It's okay to cry, to be sad and worried; it's okay to be human. I know I'm not given to words, but can count on me, okay?"_

I wiped away the tears that were left and hugged him again.

"Thank you, Soul."

" _You're welcome, Penny."_ He paused for a couple seconds. _"Now I have to go."_

"Sure, Soul. Goodbye." He slowly disappeared and I was left alone again. That embrace, he had completely recharged my energy and enthusiasm with it, so I sat on my bed and started meditating."

* * *

That night, back on Penny's house, her three pets had already eaten dinner and were about to go to sleep.

"Good night, both of you." Rhino said from his sphere.

"Good night, Rhino." They both responded, and the hamster closed his eyes.

Before they went to sleep, too, Bolt stopped Mittens.

"Uh, Mittens?"

"Yes?"

He hesitated a bit as he asked, "Is… Is there anything that happened before I lost my memories that was… important to you?"

The cat was puzzled by that question. "What do you mean?"

"Well… I'm not sure… but I think it has to do with the way you look at me. As if I were not doing something I used to do."

Mittens sighed. "Yes, Bolt, there is something you used to do before and don't do now. But it's not your fault; besides, the already have the shadow to interrogate, it won't be long before you recover your…"

"What was it?"

"What?"

"What's that thing I used to do before? Maybe I can keep doing it even if I have no memory."

Mittens smiled sadly. "No, Bolt, I don't think so."

"Come on, Mittens, tell me what it is."

"No, Bolt." She sighed in frustration. "I-I hoped you'd already noticed."

"Notice what?" The shepherd asked.

"Nothing, Bolt..."

Bolt stared at her for a minute or two before realizing something, he had gotten lost in her gaze again. "Mittens, are you and I…?" He couldn't find a way to finish that question.

"Mates. We are…" She sighed. "We were mates, Bolt."

Bolt thought about that single sentence for a minute. "Well, that makes sense."

"What?" She turned to look at him in surprise.

"Mega has been talking to me about this for the last two weeks. The heat I feel in my chest when I'm with you, how nice is spending time with you and everything else…" He paused for a moment. "As if my feeling still remembered we're together but my brain not." Then he lowered his head. "I'm sorry I didn't notice."

Mittens approached Bolt and gave him a hug. "It wasn't your fault, wags."

Bolt responded the gesture and held her for a while. When they parted they looked at each other again. The dog began to smile, confusing Mittens. "Is that why we've been sleeping together?"

She blushed. "Y-Yes. I'm sorry, Bolt, but I didn't know how you would react. You were barely beginning to believe that we were your friends, you wouldn't have believed me if I had told you…"

"And why not? You're smart, funny, cheerful…" Bolt kept saying things, making Mittens blush more and more. "…pretty."

"Stop," She told him. "If you say anything else, I-I won't be able to help it."

"Okay, fine," He smiled defiantly. "You're not pretty… you're beautiful-" Mittens stopped him right there, couldn't hold back anymore and pressed her lips against his, kissing him for what felt like an eternity before she suddenly pulled away from him.

"I'm so sorry, Bolt! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She quickly apologized when she realized what she had done. Kissing him without his memories made her feel like she was taking advantage of his innocence. "I…"

"It's okay," He replied with a smile. He had liked it.

Mittens tried to push the question away from her mind, but curiosity won. "Do you… happen to remember anything now, Bolt?"

Bolt's smile faded. "I'm sorry, Mittens, but I don't." She lowered her head, but he continued. "But it was strange, as if… there was a… some kind of spark, trying to light up when you kissed me. But it couldn't, I don't know why."

"Because it had no fuel," She answered sadly, remembering Helang's words. "It didn't have anything to burn on."

Bolt felt bad when he saw her in that state, so he held her again. She rested her head on his chest and stood there. "But it felt good," Bolt whispered, making Mittens pull away once more.

"Really?"

"Totally,"

She smiled as soon as she heard that, but didn't repeat the gesture. They both spent a few more minutes talking about things before exhaustion forced them to lie down. "Mittens?"

"What is it, Bolt?"

"When I recover my memories, if I don't forget this night, I promise I'll take you to do something."

She was surprised by that. "On a date?"

"Uh, so that's the word," He said like he had discovered an ancient treasure. "Yes, we'll go and do something, just you and I."

"Would you really do that for me?"

"Of course I would, and if I feel capable of doing so much for you right now, I can't imagine how much I would do if I had my memories. I must be deeply in love with you." He spoke that last sentence as if he were somebody else.

"Almost as much as I am with you," Mittens smiled and laid her head on Bolt's chest. "Thank you," She whispered.

"You're welcome." Bolt kissed her forehead, as he used to do before.

Meanwhile, in camp, a Pitbull lay tied on his legs and to a tree, too, with some vines and stems of plants. He hadn't placed any resistance at any moment, and he hadn't said anything.

"Well, we've got him. How do we interrogate him?" Mega asked. "You know, I could fry him, or… electrocute him."

"Well, I could…"

"What?" The wolf interrupted him sister. "Wet him, freeze him, blow a current of air in his direction, blind him with light? Come on, Byte, we know that here's where aggressive elements come in, so leave it to me."

"First, there _are_ torture methods with both water and ice… or cold. Second, nobody said that we're gonna torture him." The she-wolf retorted.

"She's right," Helang commented back from a patrol. "If we torture him, we won't be any better than he is."

"You're just stupid, you don't know anything!" The Pitbull snapped. "You don't dare hurt anyone, you don't dare make me suffer; that's why you're weak."

"You're wrong," Beta intervened. "That's what makes them great."

The Pitbull grimaced. "Bullshit."

Helang ignored his comment. "Fine, we'll try a couple of days the easy way. If he doesn't talk, then perhaps we can bring the pillar in to clean him." He said to his siblings.

"What? T-The pillar? I thought it wasn't ready…"

"Many things can happen in a month, my friend," Mega approached the Pitbull. "Will you cooperate?"

The Pitbull and the wolf stared at each other. The first one progressively began to look scared. When it seemed he was about to crack, a battle cry was heard in the forest and three shadows emerged from the trees. One was elite, a common one, and a rather big youngling.

"Get 'em!" The elite shadow commanded.

"Beta, stay back!" Helang ordered. "Let me handle the elite one, you go for the other two."

Both wolves nodded and charged at the shadows. Neither was fast enough, and both ended under their canine opponents, pinned to the ground. The elite shadow pointed one hand towards both twins, but someone sank a handful of sharp claws into its chest.

"No you won't!" Helang sentenced as he kept on clawing the shadow's chest.

The shadow cried in pain and fell down, but after a few moments its four eyes light up in orange tones. "Do you like roast food?" It asked Helang before shooting fire from its hands, like it happened with Bolt, pointing at the hawk. He, however, was too fast, let go of his grip and took flight moments before the fire touched him.

Helang took height and then plummeted towards the elite shadow, nimbly evading its fire shots. When he was close enough, the hawk opened his beak and shot a stream of water towards the shadow. It tried to counterattack with fire, but Helang had more shooting power and the shadow's hands were easily put out, just before being thrown back and to the floor. "I hope this is worth it," The spectre growled while still on the floor.

Meanwhile, next to the Pitbull was Beta, lying down and alert just as the same time as James was trying to approach stealthy to deliver a message. The shadow reached the top of the same tree the Pitbull was tied to without making any noise, then he began to descend, trying to keep it quiet. James' attempt failed when he stepped on a dry branch, that cracked and fell on Beta's head. "Who's there?" She asked, jolting up and looking at every branch carefully. "What are you trying to do?"

James stood still, trying not to be caught until he could think of something. After being in that situation for a few eternal seconds he came up with an idea; it was bad, terrible, but he had no other choice.

"For the darkness!" He shouted as he jumped from the tree to fall besides the Pitbull. However, Beta tried to bite him as soon as he fell, forcing him to retreat.

"Why did you come here?"

"I'm setting my partner free of your filthy claws," James replied and stood in combat position. "I'll wait."

Beta moved to combat position as well and rushed towards James. "Assault? Wow, she's more naive than I thought." James prepared a blow for her face, but Beta stopped abruptly and evaded the attack, then gave on of her own, throwing James to the floor. " _That's_ why Bud's the one who fights!" James complained. Then he noticed something: he had fallen to the ground near where the Pitbull was tied up. Not wasting a second, he whispered, "Sixteen doubles with no H."

The Pitbull nodded, giving James the message that he had heard him. James got up. "I'm leaving." And before Beta could even react, he had climed the tree trunk again. The little she-dog went pensive after that.

In battle, the shadows were beaten; Mega, Byte and Helang had demonstrated why they were high priority threats. The elite shadow hadn't touched Helang; he, on the other hand, had that shade against the ground, with his claws a few inches from its face. "What are you doing here?" He asked firmly.

A weird noise was heard from the treetops, causing all three animals to look up. When they turned their heads again, there were no shadows to be seen.

"What was that?" Mega asked.

"No idea, but I hope it went wrong, whatever it was."

The three moved back to the Pitbull. Al night went by as they tried to make him talk. At dawn, the whole group assembled, excepting the wolves and the hawk. Beta was the last one to arrive and notified about this to the rest.

"So they are not coming?" Bolt asked.

"No, they're trying to make the shadow speak." She answered simply.

 _"Hi, there,"_

"Hi, Soul," Was the general response.

Beta sighed. "Please… tell me you're not gonna ask about him."

" _No, Beta, I already left that search. I can't find this being's identity, so I'll be monitoring how they interrogate the shadow."_

Flor sighed too. "It will really take some time for him to talk. And even If he does, he won't tell everything he knows, just as Pitt always said to anyone who asked too much."

 _"Wait, what did you just said?"_

"What?" The Border collie tilted her head.

 _"Repeat that. What would Pitt say to anyone who asked too much?"_

Flor, surprised by that question, thought for a moment. "He would only tell us what was necessary for us to complete our missions, But there were some curious shadows who would ask about his true intentions."

"True," Beta confirmed. "We, too, tried to ask about his real plan. I was trying to inform, and Flor…"

"I was just curious. But every time someone asked, he would say the same thing: 'There are two rules for success. Number…'"

 _"'Number one is: never tell everything you know.' I can't believe it."_

Both girls were surprised to hear Soul complete the quote. "How…?"

" _I can't believe it…"_ Soul quickly established communication with everyone in the group, wherever they were. _"Guys… I know that guy. I know how's leading the organization."_

"You… what?" Penny asked from where she was.

"Master?" His three students asked.

" _Yes, I know… it's a long story. I guess it's time to open the sewer of my past… and see what kind of rats we find in there. Guys, I'm gonna tell you my story. To all of you."_

* * *

 **And yeees! Next chapter will embrace Soul's story, his past, his demons, his... everything. For now, this is it. Thanks to everyone that has come so far with me, we're getting to the best parts. Special thanks to Basbon and his ever-present reviews, and to a Guest, yes the guest that left his/her review on my last chapter, I really appreciate it, and don't worry, I won't stop 'till the story is finished. Anyway, I think that's all I have to say for now, nos vemos luego!  
**


	31. (Fb) Story of a soul, part one

**Okay, hi. I know I'm up here and not down there as usual, but I have a couple of comments before you read this one. First, long chapter, at least double than my average. Second, it is _not_ finished. Soul's past was too long so it's been divided into two halves. And as much as I would like to, I can't upload the second one, since I don't have it -yet. So, feel free to not-read this until next week if you want to have the flashback complete, I mean, not like I can force you to read it anyways. Thanks. PS. Sorry, guys. I had it ready, but I got busy last night and I forgot to publish the chapter.  
**

* * *

Chapter 31: (Flashback) Story of a soul, part one.

We find ourselves ten years before the events that have occurred through this new adventure, time when a child had the same amount of years.

Soul's P.O.V.

My name used to be Edward, friends called me Eddy. My physical appearance was a blond hair that became darker with time, ending in light brown, honey-colored eyes, a very pale skin, to a point that I even got called "Ghosty" once or twice, and a height slight lower than average, which changed when I was thirteen. I lived with my mom and dad, and my younger sister. Five years of difference in age. My grandparents lived half an hour away if you moved in car. My father and I shares certain beliefs and philosophies, as did my mother and sister. They were quite opposite, but they never interfered in our coexistence. He worked in programming and she did in medicine.

When I was ten years old we went out to a small, close forest to celebrate. There, I found a fallen branch from a tree, a fir tree, with a size of one meter sixty, a little more than four feet, maybe almost five, or so.

"Hey, dad," I called to him so he could see what I had found.

"What up, champ?" He asked me as he came closer, moving some branches out of his way.

"Look what I found," I pointed at the branch on the floor.

My dad watched it for a minute or two, thoughtfully. "Pretty, yes she is. Almost perfectly straight. But right here," He pointed near the center of the branch. "It curves a little, in a very symmetrical way. It seems almost…"

"Perfect," I finished for him.

"Yes, that's right," He said. "Would you like to take it with us?"

"For what?" I liked the idea, but I didn't know what I would want a branch for.

"We could turn it into a cane or a staff, you know? It has the shape already, we just have to move the roughness, the resin bubbles and those small twigs that it has in some places. We could also give it a better design, but it would take time."

"Deal!" I told him instantly. That branch became our hobby for the following months and ended up being a staff that I would always have with me. Very close to one end, in small but readable letters said: "Happy birthday, son. Love you, Dad."

At school I was timid. Several times I had tried talking to colleagues about the philosophy my father had taught me, but they neither understood it nor accepted it, so my friend-circle was very closed and small, and for some years it was non-existent. One simple, casual day I just bumped into someone in the school's hallways.

"Sorry," I apologized in embarrassment. I had often been object of jokes for just thinking differently, so I spoke as little as possible, both in class and with other kids.

"It's okay," He replied with a smile. For some reason he wasn't aggressive to me like everyone else. On the contrary, he shook my hand. He seemed opposite to me. Dark hair and eyes, slightly brownish skin… It became clearer as we grew. We both shared a lot in the way of thinking, so I introduced him to my dad. He accepted to teach us both and working with us. The one phrase he would always tell us: "There are two rules for success. Number one is: never tell everything you know… but since I've already had success, I'll tell you everything I know."

Time passed by and we became best friends. We both did almost everything together, meditating, playing, going out and so on. We could spend a whole day finishing a campaign without problems, at least not for him; My dad, also a videogame fan, asked me to moderate them and spend more time working on my abilities.

When I turned thirteen –he was a few months younger than me–, we met a few more friends who joined us, but didn't go as deeply into these issues and topics as we. At that age we also came up with nicknames for both. I became Psyon, and he became Centauri; before long we only called ourselves by our true names when it was a matter of life and death. Cent, I would call him for short, as he would call me Psi.

There was this day when we had a conversation that worried me:

"Hey, Psi."

"What's up?"

He didn't answer immediately.

"Y'know… about what we're training with your father…"

"Yeah?"

"What if I told you… there's another way… an easier way?"

That caught my attention. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, like, feeding on other type of emotions to power our abilities," He said seriously. "Like anger or other's fear."

"Uh… no? You and I know how dangerous that is. To immerse yourself in the dark is to surrender to it; you wouldn't be able to get out of there."

Centauri looked at me for some moments. "I could try, and if anything goes wrong, you pull me out."

"And how the hell would I get you out of the darkness!?"

"You'll come up with something," He turned to leave, but I quickly grabbed his arm firmly, to force him look at me. "What?"

"Promise me you'll not try something like that. Not today, nor ever."

He growled a few moments after a released his arm. "Fine, I'll promise as much…" Then he gave me a challenging smile. "if you beat me in a fight."

That was the catch. I had been training my mind and meditating a lot during those years. Though Centauri did the same, he did it in a smaller amount of time. A lot smaller, and spent more time in physical training. According to him, it was more practical.

We had never been involved in a fight, not even for sparring, but I was not about to let him sink into the darkness. "Alright; today in the afternoon. Five o'clock," I told him suddenly, erasing his triumphant smile. "If I win, you'll forget about this, even the darkness thing."

"Fine," He said. "But if I win, you'll let me give it a shot and won't tell your father about it."

I took as deep breath and made sure I was willing to take such a risk.

"Deal."

"Okay. See you at five."

I spent the rest of the morning paying attention to nothing more than some strategy I could think of, but I had been playing video games for the past week and training half the time I should have. It was despairing, we'd had that kind of conversation before. He insisted that in order for us to be a "dynamic duo" there should be balance, a "master of light" –definitely me–, and a "master of darkness"… No, no, no. Bad idea, bad idea. I was aware that darkness worked like a drug. Once he tried it, he would want more, and more, and more… and that would only end badly.

After school I went home before going to Cent's. There, I grabbed my small staff as well as a shirt and pants, baggy both of the, that my mother had made for me when I began to train. I didn't take anything else; my father had had a premonition, and he had told me that it would come the time to prove my skills. I imagined this was that occasion.

I arrived to his place about four-thirty. The door was ajar, so I went in and headed for his garden. There was a rug there, like the ones used in martial arts competitions. I had no idea where he got it from. He was there, warming up with a martial arts suit as well.

"Centauri!"

He turned to see me and smiled.

"So, you even showed up before the arranged time. You must be eager to try this."

"We don't have to do this. I'm not trying to prove anything to you, I want to help… to help you!"

"We have a deal," He said. "Blackmail and persuasions belong over there." He pointed to the door. I had no choice, I would have to beat him to keep him from sinking.

I left my staff on the floor and sat in meditating position. Then I looked into his eyes. "I'll wait for you," I said before closing mine.

For a minute or two he did nothing. I could sense that he was trying to guess my first move. I didn't want to find out… but again, I had no choice. "A good strategist never attacks first," I told him. I hoped that would make him reconsider and leave the fight, but he didn't.

"Then I'll be a bad one," The next thing I felt was him coming towards me with a fist in position to punch me. Being less than two feet away from me I opened my eyes and intercepted his blow with my hand, deflecting it.

"How…?"

"I see you don't pay attention. Mind defeats body."

He then tried to hit me with his other hand, which I also deflected. This time, however, I counterattacked with my hand, hitting his stomach with my palm extended, pushing him more than punching him. With that, I made him retreat, enough to give me time to get up.

At that moment he burst out in rage and began to punch and kick randomly, giving me the advantage to counterattack easily, though I received a couple of his attacks, too; sometimes he was too fast for me. After following that rhythm for a couple minutes, seeing that he wasn't getting tired, I tried something to leave him on the ground. I bent down and used one of my legs to sweep his, causing him to fall as I planned. Once on the floor, I placed a foot over on his chest so he wouldn't be able to stand up again.

"That's your problem. If you feed on something negative, negative results you'll get. Moreover, attacking randomly won't take you anywhere."

"Get off me, Psyon!" He snapped angrily. I did, without giving it much importance, and went to take my staff and my things again. However, once I had everything, I heard him stand up. "Psyon!" I turned around and found his fist very close to me; I hadn't perceived it since I was not paying attention to him. Before the punch connected, I raised my hand to block it, remembering to late that I was holding my staff. Too late.

The blow struck the staff so hard that it broke it in two. We both looked at both parts, one in my hand and the other one on the floor. A silence. I looked at him after a couple of seconds, and his face had changed, but he didn't say anything, and nor did I. He just ran away from there.

Things changed after that day. Centauri took distance from us all and began to disappear from time to time, sometimes more than one day. However, if I asked him, he would simply make up an excuse or say nothing about it. We were all aware of what he might be doing, but I trusted his word; we had made a deal, and he was a man of word, so I let him be. A couple of months later my father left for a week for a work meeting in California, shortly after I had told him the fate of my staff, which apparently he already knew.

Three more years went by. Things between Centauri and I never were the same, though they became close, and he stopped disappearing. By then, things had complicated a bit, so my parents would have to work more time and extra hours to keep up our way of life. With that, I got used to walking home after the school, and my sister was normally with my grandparents for those hours. It was during that time that I developed my first ability, healing, which I began to use immediately. I got to use it so much, that I even had a kind of scolding from my father. He said that I couldn't help everyone, and told me that the pieces fall in their place by themselves and that I should rely on my premonition before acting on something like that. Thus, the number of people I healed with my energy was greatly reduced.

There was this day when I asked about the skills I was beginning to develop.

"Hey dad?"

"Yeah?"

"What else can I do?"

"About what…? Oh, well, you know what they say. Imagination is the limit. You can imagine it, you can make it."

"Anything?"

He left what he was working on for a moment and turned his chair to see me. "Anything. But if you want a place to start, try the four Greek elements. Any more ideas you could get them from the…"

"The records, I know, but I can get in." I interrupted, lowering my head a little,

"Neither can I, and I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't make it in life. But you're much more capable than I am; I know you can do it, you'll accomplish great things." He smiled at me. "And if not, you can always use the internet," He added, and burst into laughing.

I laughed with him, and considered his words for the rest of the day. I could develop anything I could imagine, I could search the records of akashia for some extraordinary skills to have a reference, or I could search in the internet like any other human being could do. After much thought, I opted for the third option; this decision marked my life in an unimaginable way.

Two days after the talk I returned from school aware that I would be alone, which was a perfect opportunity for searching in the internet for some extraordinary abilities. Like that, I would be able to practice a little without risking hurting anyone but me if anything went wrong.

First skill that I found was the energy sphere, and the name says it, it's a sphere made of programmable energy. You can customize its size, density, hardness –And I mean that it can be solid and break things or "not solid" and pass through them–, or even attribute it a special ability, like healing or fire to say some. You can also give it color and texture, though those are more for aesthetic matters. I spent a lot of energy that day, creating spheres of all kinds I could think of. No need to say I didn't make it on the first try, but since I had been working on my skills I managed to do it that same day. And I caused no accidents.

Having created and thrown a bunch of psi-balls –that's how some call them–, to the point where I had even used my own energy to create the last ones, which is not recommended, I sat down again to investigate more. Most abilities were derivate from the spheres or the elements. Fire control, water, creation of wind drafts, modification of relief at will and so on. I also found skills for very advanced users that mastered the four most complex "elements": Life, death, time and space. And for obvious reasons I didn't touch any of that, but I took note of it, for the future.

I researched from site to site, collecting information and building a personal library with skills that developed that day and another with skills I wanted to develop in the future. But my curiosity continued to grow more and more, and as they say, curiosity killed the cat. I ended up in a site run by "paranoid people", as my father and I used to call them, people who think everything is a government conspiracy for one thing or another, but this time it was different. The web site was exclusively about mythological beings known as shadows, beings of darkness who fed on the negative energy of organic beings. The explanation I read was the one I transmitted, adding data from my own experience. What surprised me more, the site spoke, and had evidence, of the countless wars, epidemics and crises throughout the history that they had caused.

Impulsively, I decided not to allow this to continue, so I began to spread the information I had found that day with friends and acquaintances, as well as through social networks on the internet. Rather it was the second, since I was still very shy. There were reactions of all types; some believed me, and some even claimed to be fighting them, some others kinda believed me, some more didn't, and some called me crazy. But I didn't care; I kept sending information, denouncing the actions they had been responsible for. The price to pay was too high.

Being sixteen years old, I moved on my own and was quite independent, which made it easier for my parents to spend extra hours at work, but sometimes I had the chance to see them at lunch or during the afternoon. That day was very special, it was my seventeenth birthday, I was on my way home from school when my cell phone rang.

"Yes, who is this?"

 _"Hi, son,"_

"Dad?! What's up?"

 _"What? Can't I call my son just to hear his voice?"_

"No, and you wouldn't do so. Not with the high prices on telephony."

" _Yeah… right. Okay, I just wanted you to know that there's a surprise at home, a birthday present for you. From your mom and I and we hope you like it."_

"Sure. And how do you know that my sister hasn't opened it?"

" _She's with granny. They'll take care of her until night."_

It was clear for me that they wouldn't spend my birthday with me, both of them had to work and I didn't bother to waste time in getting frustrated. "Okay, I'll call you when I see it."

" _Better to wait until we get home and tell us in person. Now go, run home."_ And he hung up.

I didn't hesitate and accelerate my pace but without running, which still reduced my time by a lot. When I tried to open the front door with my keys, I noticed it was slightly ajar. "You're bad for surprises," I mumbled. The gift was a meal with them, and that was better than any other present. With an untouchable smile I opened the door and entered. Thus, I saw the most horrifying image of my life.

"Mom! Dad!"

Both of them were lying on the ground… dead. There were some messy and broken things all over the place… the table had three plates with some soup on them. He was closer to the door, so I figured he tried to defend her. Neither had any injuries, and yet both were dead there, with a look of terror on their faces. I checked the place over and over… nothing, no clue, no evidence of anything. I burst into tears, and spent hours without stopping. I held them both in turns. My father and I had talked about it… it wasn't necessary to cry for dead people… death would come to us all; but it was so easy to say, and so hard to achieve. I had lost them both on the same day.

After a couple hours, when I finally calmed down, I found a note on the table. It was not there when I arrived. I only read it once, and memorized the message.

 _Hope this will be a lesson for you._

 _You don't mess with our information; no one can stop us._

 _Keep it up, and the little girl's next._

 _Thanks for your help_

No detective was needed. The shadows had killed my parents for my lack of judgement. At that moment I made the most important decision in my life.

I went to my room, tears still in my eyes, but almost as angry as I was sad. Both feelings multiplied when I saw to gifts on my bed. One was a new staff, six feet long. The design was almost like the first one, with some modifications. It was dark brown, almost black, and had two slight curvatures near the ends, about thirteen inches from the end its where both curvatures began, perfectly opposite and almost imperceptible, but there they were. Even more, it had three crystals in its structure, but no hole or anything that could've been used to place them. Two were located near the ends, roughly at the midpoint of the curves, with considerable size since they were protruding at four opposite points, as if the wood had _grown_ around the crystals. Something similar was with the third one, which was located in the exact center and with the same characteristics, excepting that it was somewhat larger than the other two. The three were yellowish-orange colored.

Next to the staff there was a note:

 _Hi, Eddy. Happy birthday. If you're reading this, then we are no longer physically with you, but don't forget that you'll never be alone. Because of this, I'll explain my gift to you. The wood for this new stick of yours is olneya, though many people call it "ironwood" for its hardness. It's one of the hardest woods in the world. It's not from here, I got it when I was in California and then decided to make you a new cane that wouldn't break as easily, though the other one was cute too. I made the curves, they are symmetrical and opposite. The ends aren't sharp or rounded, so that's up to you. But, I'm warning you, it takes time to carve on this wood, it wasn't for nothing that it took me more than two years to finish it._

 _Regarding the crystals, its orange topaz all three of them, very effective for absorbing and releasing energy. They'll work as batteries and under your will, so I'll ask you to train before you start using them. And yes, indeed they're embedded in the wood, courtesy of mine. A skill whose name I don't remember, but it allows you to manipulate tissue, alive or dead and any kind of it, from molecular levels; so I broke the staff (yes, break it), then placed the crystal in the middle and finally made the wood "weld" around it, imprisoning the crystal inside the staff. Since you always liked double-edged weapons I placed one at each end and one in the middle, for you to grab it from the center and use both ends to attack or defend. And yes, I know what you've been doing. Why didn't you tell us? We could've helped… but it doesn't matter now._

 _You have the staff and you know why and how, so I'll let you read your mother's letter now (Yes, I knew that you would pick the staff first, and you didn't even notice the clothing that's left for you there–) I always knew you would do great things, I didn't need the premonition to confirm it, but remember: If you want to go faster, go alone. If you want to go further, go accompanied. (Not necessarily of those who are your friends right now, don't forget that circumstances will place you in front of those who should accompany you. Don't try to force anything.) Good luck, my son._

"Ah! I could just _hate_ you sometimes!" I screamed loudly, remembering him with a sad smile. "How _dare_ you do that to me? How dare you make another staff without telling me? Oh, someday I'll get you back." Tears began to flow freely through my cheeks once more. It took me a few minutes to calm down, and then I grabbed my mother's gift.

Clothing, just as my father had said. Very similar to the ones she had made for me three years before. A baggy shirt, some trousers, though not baggy, they were broad; there was also a doublet, similar to the upper part of a martial arts uniform, but it went all the way down to my knees. All of it was beige, along with a black belt with some small compartments for storing. Finally, there was a dark brown robe that reached a little below my ankles and had a hood, as well as a pair of comfortable black boots that covered half the distance between my ankles and my knees. After taking a good look at everything, I read the note:

 _Hi, honey, you dad told me what could happen and, well, I wanted to take precaution. I hope you're not reading this, and if you are, it was not your fault. Although, honey, if you had told us we could've helped you; now this is the last help we'll give you._

 _All the clothes are made of soft and comfortable fabric for you to wear. Although your father thought that you would have to fight sooner or later, so he did weird things to every piece of my gift. The robe is made for it to warm you in a cold weather, but without being suffocating if it's warm outside, and it's wider than you, so you can close it around you. The doublet and the shirt are light and comply with the same things as the tunic. The trousers are a little thicker, but without losing that touch. Boots and belt are made of leather, the first ones also with modifications both in and out so that you can use them on rocky terrains or walk long distances without your feet getting hurt or aching. The belt has four small pockets for you to place some things in them._

 _Now, I want you to promise me something. Whatever you start, you'll finish. We'll always be with you, and you can always count on us. We love you._

At the bottom of her note there was a piece of paper taped to it.

 _Hi, again. About what your mother said, I modified each of the clothing "parts" to make them much more resistant, both to the weather and enemies' attacks. Even so, it's_ not _armor, don't you dare use it like that. I also added some restructuring mechanism and an "auto wash" too. If it rips or gets damaged somewhere, it will repair itself with time. It's not instant; it could take days, even months if you tear it in half and lost one of the pieces. So don't play with it, or you'll end up running around totally naked. And regarding the "wash" thing, it's almost the same, the clothes will clean themselves over time, and faster than the restructuring. And I hope you appreciate it; I spent enough energy on this to give light to this entire city for a week. Okay now, I'm sure you'll be fine. Again, good luck, son._

I didn't know if I felt more sadness or more anger. They both had known about my activities, about what I had been doing, but they hadn't done anything, waiting for me to tell them. Why? That had cost them their lives, or maybe…? No, it was my entire fault. With the determination of my decision still fresh, I packed everything I could need in a backpack: food, water, some clothing, emergency money from my parent's drawer. Then I suited up in my mother's gift and took the staff of my father's. When I had everything ready, I went to my room and made a mess. I threw several things to the floor, I messed my bed and pulled my blankets towards the entrance and moved some other things. My masterpiece made it look like there had been a small battle in there, which had ended with the murderer of my parents taking me with him, or so I tried to make it look like. I did everything with gloves on, so nobody would find fingerprints in the "crime scene". Once I had that done I looked at the house for the last time. When I finished I went to my parent's bodies and destroyed the shadow's note, but took the pieces with me. I left the house, went to a pay phone and called the police to tell them about a crime, as if I had been a witness of it from a distance.

I waited nearby, hooded so that nobody would recognize me, for the police to arrive. When they were moving the bodies I remembered about my sister. Surely she would end up under my grandparent's custody, but what would become of her? Certainly, we didn't play as much as when we were young, and argued often, mostly because I called her "girl" or "kid" instead of addressing her by her name; but at the end of the day she was my sister. Just imagining what she would feel made me want to go back, but I remembered why I was leaving in the first place. If the shadows were still out there, she wasn't safe; again, because of me. I would do everything to make up for my mistake. My one and biggest mistake. "Sorry, girl, you'll have to manage on your own for a couple of years." I whispered to myself. After that, and seeing that my parents were identified, I left.

The following months I lived on the streets, with no place to go. Almost always I wore the clothing my mother had made, and never go anywhere without the staff. I did saw my picture in the missing people list. I spent as little money as I could and went to visit Centauri once every two weeks to catch up with him. He always insisted on giving me money, which I would only accept after having argued with him a little. Things became progressively complicated; I got to sell everything I had but the gifts. By the third month I had almost nothing to eat, I had to resort to eating… well, trash in order to keep eating three meals per day. Funny thing, I never felt sick at all. I would have asked my father why, were the circumstances other. From time to time I got "informed" by listening to other people's conversations. Pity, they always were about sport, fashion, trash politics, and similar; never about ecology, humanity, spiritualism or anything that actually matters. I came to the conclusion that it is incredible how we claim to be the dominant species, the superior one, and yet we destroy Mother Nature, have a double moral big as our ego and we run around, getting blinded by stupid ambitions. Such thoughts would have never reached my mind if I hadn't run away from home.

Three days after having visited Centauri for the seventh time, I found an unpleasant surprise. Arriving at was meant to be my alley, which I shared with a bulldog I had named Bob, I found someone snooping around.

I walked carefully towards the stranger, who had his back towards me. I couldn't find any definite shape, the lack of light because of the time didn't help. When I was close, just before I could speak, he turned and stared at me.

"Ah, so here's the objective," He said, then I realized it was a shadow.

"You,"

"Yo," It replied mockingly. "No, kid, not me. And you should be grateful that he wasn't sent for you, too. You would be dead if it were like that." Then the shadow looked at my staff. "W-Where did you get that?"

"None of your business," I had before me one of the causes, not only of my parent's deaths, but of suffering and misery, both countless. I was getting angry. A lot.

"Let me say it like this," He told me, clearly annoyed. "Give me that."

"Never!"

The shadow growled and charged towards me. Fortunately I hadn't stopped training all of that time, so I was in shape for a fight. Besides, I can affirm that living on the streets makes on tougher, since I had no problem deflecting his attack with my free hand and give him one with one end of my staff. I was shocked to see that the crystal embedded in the side where I hit the shadow flash slightly, whereby the shadow made a pain expression.

"Seriously, give me that. It's not for a kid to play with."

It then tried to approach to me carefully, but hastily. It wasn't enough and I gave it another blow, this time with the middle part of my staff and directly into its head. "No, it's mine." I told it after connecting the blow. "In any case, what do you want it for?"

"Then it's true," Its eyes opened in horror. "Genesis…" I was going to ask, but it tried to float past me. I stepped on its way and pointed one of the staff's ends towards it.

"You're not leaving without talking first."

The shadow swallowed hard, though I'm not sure they have saliva. It looked, totally scared, into my eyes. "Y-You don't know how to use it… r-right?"

I was confused by that question, and the shadow tried to use that time to take the staff out of my hands; however as soon as it touched the wood, the shadow howled in pain and let go of it. Then I felt a premonition and made a move based on pure instinct. I moved away from the shadow, pointed one end of the staff towards it and placed both hands near the center crystal and pressed the wood. The end pointing to the shadow light up with a white light and then struck a shot of it, which made the shadow scream and disappear. I just stared at the scene for about half an hour before Bob returned to the alley with a piece of meat in his mouth.

"Hi, Bob," I said, still half-shocked for the attack that I had made.

"Hello," I heard a gruff voice answer me.

I had to stifle a shout to avoid waking anybody up. I opened my eyes totally and looked at the bulldog. "C-Can you repeat that?"

Bob looked at me like I was crazy. "Uh… hello." He said.

"I understood you!" I yelled in the lowest voice I could find.

The dog left his food and turned to me. "For real?"

"Y-Yeah, totally."

"Great, then you're ready."

I was taken aback with that. "I… ready for what?"

"You don't believe that you met me by coincidence, right? Why do you think you've stayed here, even though your friend has offered you hostage more than once, or that you've not fallen sick even though you eat trash? Why do you think you've had deep revelations, or that you needn't drink as much water as a normal human being? Or you think that was for free? Of course no! Genesis asked me to look after you and train you subtly until you were ready. The fact that you understand me and you've managed to activate the crystals means that you are. Come with me."

* * *

 **To be continued...  
**


	32. (Fb) Story of a soul, part two

Chapter 32: (Flashback) Story of a soul, part two

Bob led me to the back of the alley and told me to move a trash container. I did, and found an old, worn-out door. Inside there was something similar to a base, but made for a dog. I had to come in squatting and leave the staff outside. And I barely fit in squatting; my head almost hit the ceiling, which stank of mold.

"Alright, then let's start from the beginning," He told me as soon as we were comfortable, or rather, he was comfortable.

"You could start by telling me who Genesis is and what's all this."

Bob busted in laughter for quite some time, though I didn't see the joke in that. After calming down, seeing that I had not laughed or reacted, he looked at me. "You don't know who Genesis is? What do you know then?"

"Nothing," I told him.

"Well, then it's time for you to catch up. This is one of the many surveillance stations we have arranged all over the planet. We are an organization dedicated to counter the shadow's actions and keep them at bay… or that's the plan for this. And this is one of the three or four posts we have throughout this city alone."

I was confused by what he had said. "Then what's the point?"

He looked at me and sighed. "I'll start with the beginning. Long ago, when human civilization was in its unregistered heyday, everyone lived in peace. Shadows and lights existed since then, but they did in peace, they coexisted without fighting, and none interfered in the physical world; they only absorbed the natural energy that was produced by organic beings. Since this is a positive planet, the amount of shadows was always lower than the amount of lights. Even so, shadows never showed any problem regarding that, until everything changed."

It was an outside interference, it didn't start on this planet. But someone showed the shadows what they could do, someone corrupted them, though it may sound weird, but they weren't like this always. The new generation of shadows helped these strange beings to divide humankind, by language, race, religion, and way of thinking. These beings knew that an united humankind would be a potential threat to any dark force, so they divided it.

With humanity divided and out of the way, only the lights were interposed between this dark alliance and the suffering of innocents, so they had to fight. They began recruiting animals and humans in the path of light and willing to help. Everything started there.

Things got more and more complicated, both sides suffered loses, and none was willing to give up. Just because the strangers ran out of supplies of some kind, something they couldn't get from here, is that the lights didn't lose everything. Without that supply, the strangers had to return to their home, but they left the shadows here on Earth corrupted and lusty, and all this chaos started.

"The shadows usually act without thinking about the consequences to any term, unlike the lights, so sometimes it seems like they're not acting, when they're waiting for the right moment to do so. Although this war has lasted for millennia, there have been times when the shadows seem defeated. However, it's always temporary and they come back. Strange as it sounds, 'organized shadows' is a rather new thing, since they usually act on their own. That's the very reason why we're assembling too, with a man named Genesis leading the organization and a few recruits, only animals for the time-being."

I was silent for a minute while processing all that I had heard, although it wasn't too distant from the information I had found online, there were some points I had clarified with this and some other I had been able to correct. "And who is… Genesis?"

"I'll give you to him," Then Bob closed his eyes and his voice rang on my head. _"Genesis, Genesis do you copy? Here post two, I've got the rookie, he wants to ask you a couple questions."_ However, there was no response from this 'Genesis' "Hmm, that's weird, he always answers. Give me a moment, please." Bob pointed to the exit.

I got his message and left his little cave, and thank goodness, because my legs felt numb from squatting all that time. I stretched my legs and waited for about fifteen minutes, looking at my staff and remembering how I had killed a shadow. I yawned. I didn't know the time, but it was late, and I knew that it was a lot later than the time I usually went to sleep during those times, so I was sure I wouldn't be able to wake up early the next day.

"Sorry for the wait," Bob said, coming out of his hideout. "Unfortunately, Genesis is… dead. Without him, our chances are almost none, unless…" He looked at me. "Tell me your name."

"I don't have one," I replied firmly.

"Age?"

"None,"

"Birthday?"

That word made my jaw clench with anger for a few seconds. "No-ne," I replied with gritted teeth. "I have nothing, I left everything behind."

"Why?"

"What?"

Bob stared at me in disbelief. "What do you mean 'what'? Nobody leaves everything behind and goes to live in the streets just because they're feeling like it."

"Well, then I'm nobody," But Bob didn't move. "Okay. I made a terrible mistake, because of my lack of judgement two innocent people died. I left before it happened to anyone else."

Bob thought for a couple seconds. "You got anywhere to go?"

"I was on my way to face the shadows and stop them, but…" I stopped, noticing that he was struggling to hold back his laughter. "What's so funny?"

"You. Listen to yourself, you want to go out and 'stop' them. If it were that easy, somebody would've done it a long time ago."

"So what do I do?" I asked in frustration.

"First, you need a name. If you're gonna get involved in this you need something to identify yourself as an ally of the light, something that'll distinguish you from the rest. Forget your original name, give me a new one, an alias."

"Psyon," I answered without hesitation.

"Well then, your name is Psyon. I'm Jeffrey, nice to meet you." He lifted a paw for me to shake, and I did. "Now, I perceive a great light in you, young Psyon; a light that won't grow in here with all this… stress and pollution."

"What are you trying to tell me… Jeff?"

"If you want to face the shadows and get out alive, you must polish your inner light. For this, it's necessary that you move out of here, the city is too noisy and stressful. My recommendation is that you go to a forest, and I'll bet those kind of places are of your liking, aren't they?"

"Certainly, I've always liked going to the woods."

"Because your premonition always knew that you would reach your potential there. But if you are to go, you must cut off all contact before. With me, and with your friend."

"Centauri? No, no he can help us."

Jeffrey shook his head. "His path is different from yours. Give him one last visit and tell him you're leaving; don't tell him where, after that shadow found its way to this alley, it's not safe to talk out loud. And you must do it soon, or they'll find us. I'll notify the other posts to go into hibernation until further notice, and that we have a new leader."

That last part surprised me. "Me? Why would I be your leader?"

"It's in your nature, boy." He smiled. "Besides, you don't have to do it now. But if you need help, you can count on us. Meanwhile, I'll keep on recruiting animals for the light."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "Okay. I'll go in three days to visit Centauri and then I'll leave, I'll find a forest and keep training there."

Jeffrey just nodded and went to sleep. I stayed awake for a long time, thinking about what was coming before my body sent me to sleep almost by force.

During those three days, Jeffrey explained several things to me, including how to control the crystals from my staff, as well as a few more details about the shadows and some data on how to develop new abilities. After that time I gave my old comrade one last visit. I arrived at his home at the usual time and knocked.

"Psyon?"

"Hey there, Cent."

"What's up, man? You returned… earlier."

"I know, it's barely been a week. Cent, I have something important to tell you, I can't keep coming."

"What…?"

"I'm leaving the city. I'll go to a forest, I guess. I can't stay here, sooner or later, they'll find me, or you and they'll force you to talk… or worse."

Centauri looked at me for a second. "Okay, but you have to access to two things." I was gonna say something, but he raised his hand to interrupt me. "First, you promise to me that you're not going into hiding. You've always told me that running from problems doesn't solve them…"

"I'm not hiding," I replied, interrupting him. "It's a temporary withdrawal, but I won't let this keep on happening."

"As you say, I trust your word." He smiled. "The second one is that you'll take this with you." And he pulled a Swiss army knife out of one of his pockets. "Because it'll be useful, and it'll be a souvenir from me. Oh, and I suggest that you wear those all the time." He added, pointing to my chest. "They make you look like a solitary hermit who lives alone in the mountains, and if you use the hood, no one will see your face. In addition, it looks pretty cool with that cane included."

I couldn't help but chuckle at his suggestion. "Sure thing," Then I took the knife he was offering to me and put it away.

"And you gotta tell me how are you doing, somehow."

"I'll think of something," I turned around and started to walk away.

"Psyon," He called me before I left. "I have a proposal."

I turned at him, confused. "A proposal?"

"Let's do this: Let's see what can we manage to achieve three years from now. When we are twenty we'll meet again and compare progress. How's that?"

I smiled at his proposal. "Sure, then I'll see you in three years, old friend."

I then left his house and came back to the alley to meet Jeffrey.

"How did it go?"

"Fine," I told him. "We'll meet in a couple of years to see how it went for each other."

"Cool," He said as he finished something at the entrance to his hideout. I got closer and saw that he had sealed it totally, I was going to ask but he didn't give me the chance. "I'm leaving too, you know? I'll find new placed to recruit."

"Where will you go?" I asked.

"Probably east and south. And I call you go north."

"To Canada?"

"Sure, after all… I can't think of anything, it's just a premonition."

I gave him a smile. "Then I'm off to Canada." I bent down and gave him my hand to shake it. "It was a pleasure to have shared and alley with you during these months, Jeffrey."

"I wouldn't have said it better, young Psyon." He answered my gesture. "Now go and become stronger than anyone else. But don't let yourself be dominated by that latent anger within you, it won't end well if you do."

I placed on a serious expression and nodded. Minutes later we were both leaving the alley, taking opposite directions. He was moving southeast and I was moving north from Oregon, towards Canada. During the following days I continued to eat waste and trash, and drank water from puddles, whenever there where puddles. After ten days of travel I arrived to Washington, where I rested for a few days. In that lapse of time I learned to clean the water I drank using the crystals and their energy; however I already was used to dirty water, but it could be practical. After that break I kept walking north, barely resting and barely stopping to eat. A month after the start of my trip I arrived at the border with Canada, and crossed it without problem. Afterwards, it took me another month, but I finally settled in a forest northeast of Whitehorse, in the state of Yukon, where I began my new life.

As much as I tried to stop it, I still had a latent, growing anger within me. Moreover, I was alone now, I had no one to talk to. At least once per week I would talk to myself, so I wouldn't forget the sound of mown voice. It was then when I began to sing old songs that I listened to with my father, apparently an eternity before those days; I used my staff, stoned, twigs, water, anything that could imitate the sound of musical instruments, and I even gained some attention of the animals that lived nearby. Slowly and inevitably, I succumbed to madness. Weeks became months, my training progressed, but my anger was too. Using the knife Centauri had given me, I began to sharpen the ends of my staff, as I trimmed my nails and sharpened them so that they worked like claws, sharp. I hunted only what I needed, for I didn't want to blame my prey or take out my anger hunting, and ate "balanced meals". I ate fruit and berries, and I leveled those with the amount of meat that I ate too, raw of course.

Six months later I was fully established, I had my routine and my "territory". I also dominated the four basic elements and their variants in a handful of ways, as well as I had a sight, hearing and smell much far developed than an average human, mostly due to the need of hunting for food. Premonition helped me foresee inconveniences, both natural, like storms, and people who sometimes wandered around in the forest. I practiced combat alone, and that's because I trained for making my opponent suffer, and I wasn't going to do that to a poor animal. Actually, I killed my prey quickly and without making it suffer, in addition to thanking the animal for giving me its life and energy to allow me to survive as a sign of respect. I was still wrapped in anger, so had I found a shadow those days, I would probably had fallen into its blackmail. My teeth slowly got sharpened to cut meat, and didn't get chopped, I learnt later on that it happened because even though I wasn't brushing them, I wasn't eating processed sugar or artificial sweeteners (Chemicals, in a nutshell) either, so with drinking water after eating was enough to keep them clean. As time went on, I got some scars on my arms and face, mostly for fighting with animals that wanted to steal my prey, though I never killed them. Shaving, no. Though, both my father and I were always of few facial hair, so there was no much need, by then I was having a small beard and mustache light brown colored.

One day I was quietly returning home from hunting, with a goat in my shoulders, when I saw a puma in the distance. The animal looked at me and then turned away and ran. Strange thing, since I thought it would try to take my food away. Feeling a premonition, I left the goat and followed the puma. It was moving along a path that I had known for some time, but I never used it since I had never found anything interesting on that area. About ten minutes later I lost sight of the animal. Frustrated, I hit a tree with a clenched fist, leaving a mark on the trunk. I sat there, looking in any direction.

A few minutes later I saw something that surprised me. The puma was there, near a rocky ledge, its back towards me. Its tail was moving from side to side, but it was touching an egg with it. I stood up and moved closer. When I was close, the puma ran off and left me alone with the egg. "What the hell would I want an egg for?" I asked aloud. For some moments I was considering to leave. Then I remembered it all had been a premonition.

I gathered some branches and fallen logs and made a bonfire near the egg to keep it warm. I didn't touch it, I knew that if its parents came back and didn't recognize the egg's scent, they would abandon it. For the next four weeks I didn't return home; I stayed there, caring for the egg. There was something from it, form being nearby it, that calmed me down. I kept finding food and studied the characteristics of the egg, trying to guess what bird would come out of it. That didn't work. After thirty-four days, I woke up with a surprise: A small chick with creamy white plumage and disproportionately large paws that was chirping close to me.

I carefully took the newborn into arms, and finally understood. They were not coming back for him; he was my responsibility, he had been since I found the egg. I quickly remembered a little I had read about birds back in the civilization, and I concluded it was a peregrine falcon I had found, based on the color of the egg and his feathers, as well as the location. (Hawks don't make nests, they normally take abandoned ones from eagles, on rocky outcrops, cliff edges or hollows inside tree trunks) Then I got to thinking, I would need food. The next part was just a mess: when they are newborns, the father hunts for them and the mother looks after them 24/7, and that was only the beginning. I had to start hunting medium animals every day, when I was used to hunting something big for three or four days. So, I learned to hunt ducks, pigeons, hares, rabbits, rats, and even one or two bats, whenever I had no luck in daylight. All of it without leaving the child unguarded and making sure he was warm. From the prey I caught, I would give him a part and eat the rest myself, still raw.

A month and a half after being born, the kid began to change his feathers. He already knew how to speak in his natural language; nevertheless, I never had any trouble understanding him. He used to call me "dad", though since the first time he asked where did he came from, I told him the truth. Sometimes I would sing some songs I still remembered to him, and I treated him like a son of mine. Without him knowing it, without trying, he extinguished the anger inside me. It was him who showed me that I was the doing the right thing, but for the wrong reasons. I understood, and stopped training to make suffer my opponent, and focused on defense, as it should've been from the beginning. I named him "Helang", a name I found once while playing with a translator.

With the passage of time, Helang became capable of hunting by himself, leaving me free to hunt for me again. Ever since he understood my words I taught him that there were no limits, and that everything was possible. The child learned quickly and in short time he was faster, stronger, and more agile than others of his kind. When I trained, he used to watch me closely; more than once I was able to see out of the corner of my eyes that he mimicked my movements. That kept going until the bird was about five or six months old. Then Helang asked me to train him, and of course my first answer was an absolute no, but then I remembered the res. I was on my way to fight shadows, and he was like my son. If he wasn't prepared, the shadows would have no trouble in killing him.

"Okay," I told him after a few seconds of silence.

"For real? Yay!" He flew a couple of times around me and stood in my shoulder, then rubbed his head against mine.

"Yeah, but things won't be easy. Do you understand that? It won't happen overnight, but it'll be worth it."

"Of course I understand, Master."

Right there I understood that we, humans, definitely underestimate animal potential. No one ever asked him to call me in such way; it was something he did by himself, because he thought it would be appropriate.

Before I began training him, I explained my reasons, and told him about the shadows, and he still accepted. For the next few weeks I was able to confirm my hypothesis, since the kid made exceptional progress, mostly because his mind was never bounded. My only condition was that he would develop premonition first, just to keep him safe.

After he developed that ability, I realized that I was looking at me in a mirror, but with feathers and beak. "We are one, you and I…" I understood that then… He asked me to teach him around the four elements and their variants, and speed, strength, agility and endurance, which he also developed as he hunted for his own prey.

A few months later, during mealtime, Helang approached me with a question.

"Master?"

"Yes?"

"Why are we doing this?"

"Because we can't let the shadows keep doing their affairs and make innocents suffer," I told him.

"Yes, I know but… I think you haven't told me."

I froze. "Something like what?"

"I-I feel there's another reason why we ended up here, in a forest, away from humanity."

"You belong here, Helang."

"But you don't. Humans don't leave their homes just like that. Besides, you don't speak the same language as all the other persons we've seen around here, so you must come from somewhere far away."

His ability for deduction was a surprise for me. I sighed, resigned.

"It's true, kid, I'm not from here. I grew further south, in a state called Oregon. Your premonition is reliable."

"And why did you end up here?"

"A suggestion from a friend brought me here. I decided that training on a forest would be a good option. I didn't imagine I would end up with someone."

"What was it like to be alone?"

"Lonely," I answered, joking. As I saw no reaction from his part, I decided it was time to teach him something new. "Okay, next lesson: A little humor is always good."

"Humor?" He asked.

"We'll work on it. In other news, I think you're ready to train with me."

"But I'm training with you, Master."

"Yeah, I meant to spar, to face each other in combat."

Helang's look was fearful. "Why?"

"Because sooner or later we'll have to face someone else, and sparring will help us improve. Don't worry, you know I wouldn't hurt you." The kid nodded, still fearful. "Come on, I can heal you, or myself, if things get out of hand."

"Yes, I know… but I don't think I can beat you, Master."

"And that's exactly why you won't be able to. Do not limit yourself, you know it." Helang nodded.

During the following weeks we sparred in training time. I always told him to 'go nuts', he could use his beak and claws, and I would use my staff. Certainly, he never defeated me, he never felt capable of doing so. But I didn't care, he didn't have to get past me, but get past himself. That's how he progressed in an amazing way, without having to defeat me once.

Once Helang was a year old we left the forest and moved westward, into Alaska and back to the civilization, and began to search for shadows. During all that time, ever since Helang had come into my life, I wore the hood almost all the time, with very few exceptions, and my facial hair actually made me look like a hermit.

Helang was in charge of getting information about the location of their facilities. Since they were shadows, even though I was gone for more than a year, they had barely began to organize themselves. It was very easy to get rid of their bases and supplies, besides we always had the surprise factor. After no more than two weeks, there were no bases in Alaska. A talking shadow told us that they were moving south, more specifically, to British Columbia. Helang and I followed that information, correct indeed, and settled back in a forest, quite south, almost back in the United States and east of Vancouver.

There again we both kept on training and progressing. I used to hunt for both of us, while Helang would go on patrol. One day we were returning home, with food of course, when a wolf attacked me. Despite having the dead animal in my shoulders, I used my staff's crystal and immobilized him without even giving him the chance to touch me. I moved close to him and spoke.

"Hi," But he just stared aggressively at me and grunted. "Easy, I'm not like the others. I can understand you, buddy, and I won't kill you. I just want to know why you attacked me."

"None of your business," He growled.

"Of course it's my business," I answered, and he looked at me in surprise. "Maybe I can help you."

I stepped away from him and removed the immobilizing energy from his body. When he stood up again he looked at me in disbelief.

"Why…?"

"I told you, I'm not like them. If you don't believe me, ask him," And I pointed to Helang. The wolf turned to see him and Helang nodded.

"Okay, I'll tell you. I was the alpha, you know, of the pack. My mate was pregnant… I had this reputation, of being lonely, bossy, of never having a mate. But I fell in love with her, and I wanted to form a family of my own. They said I was getting soft, getting weak. A challenger appeared and beat me in combat; they left us behind after that. We have a cave near here, but she still needs food and I can hardly get enough for one of us."

"Are the kids born yet?"

"No,"

"Then I have a deal for you," I said. "We'll help you."

"What?"

"What you heard. Look for us around here every day at this time. I'll bring food for everyone. We can even begin today, and we will end the day the children are born." I stepped closer and smiled. "If you don't have any problem showing us where are you staying, of course."

The wolf hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded and began to walk. "This way,"

The journey was looking silent. Helang and I walked behind him, though the bird was on my head, and nobody talked. After some time, I tried to make up a conversation.

"Do you have a name?"

"No," He replied dryly. I though my attempt was a fiasco, but then he kept talking. "What's yours?"

"I don't have one either," I said.

The wolf stopped dead and turned to me. "Really?" I nodded. "Weird. I had never heard of a name-less human."

I smiled. "I'm an exceptional case."

"You bet. Guess I'll call you… nobody." And he chuckled.

We arrived to their little cave, and he spent some minutes telling her what had happened. She also seemed unsure about what to think about me, and I couldn't blame her. Finding one in eight billions with different intentions is like… well, finding one in eight billions with different intentions. After talking to her a little to calm her down, we chatted for a couple hours and I shared what I had hunted that day.

During the following weeks we repeated that routine. I would hunt, big prey only, in the morning for all of us while Helang patrolled. Then we would go to our meeting spot with Yin, that's how I called the male, for he was totally white, and he would take us with Yang –you guessed right, she was totally black–. He did keep his word, and called me "nobody" always. We all played and spent time together. Helang, already with a concept of "humor", would occasionally tell jokes, some which I had told him and some that he had figured out on his own. We also sang once or twice a week, or rather I would sing, and they would dance while Helang made musical noises for me. We were a family, the second I had in my life.

The day I had calculated the pups would be born I got more food than usual. We arrived punctually to the meeting point, but Yin never appeared. A premonition came to be, and it became clear that I wouldn't see them again. Convincing myself that I was going nuts, I asked Helang to search for any traces of them. When he returned with a negative, I told him to go home, aware that he wouldn't obey, and I headed for the cave. As I moved closer, the images of what was happening became more and more vivid, so I began to run.

Helang arrived a little before me. When I did, I saw a man, a hunter, placing something, no, placing Yin inside a sack. Not too far away was Yang, with the newborn puppies… all of their bodies soaked in blood. "Hey!" I yelled at him. That very image had reminded me of that far away May twenty-fifth two years before, when I came home just to find my parents dead. An anger I thought extinguished ignited again. "Leave that, and get out of here!"

The guy looked at me, said nothing and reached for his gun. Then I moved. Without even giving him time to point it at me, I ran at full speed towards him; as soon as I was close I hit him on his side with the staff and then I kicked his shin, so he fell to the ground. "Never, _never_ , end a life without reason. You do it to survive, fine. You do it for clothing or so, so-so. You do it to boast about what you're capable of, then you only show how much idiocy your brain contains. A man doesn't kill dragons, you idiot. A man _tames_ them, _flies_ with them. She gave us life, and you all destroy her, as if you were superior to her. You cannot place yourself above nature; in the end, you'll end up underneath her. There's no way to beat your creator. Now beat it!"

Terrified, the guy ran away as soon as I let go of him. Then I broke his gun and incinerated it. After that, I moved to the sack and took Yin out of it, he was already dead. I didn't say anything, I had discharged my anger with my speech and I would simply not cry again, nor did the tears seem ready to flow. Helang was sobbing behind me, but above his sobs I heard a groan. I quickly left Yin's body and moved towards Yang. She was dying.

"T-Twins… hi… hidden. Take… care of them… please, they-they're…"

She didn't finish her sentence.

"I will Yang, I'll care for them."

I decided we should bury them. I asked Helang to make a hole big enough as I moved the bodies together. I placed them so that the parents' bodies would be holding the pups'. Before plugging it I ate a berry and placed the seeds in the middle of their bodies. Maybe a tree would grow up in where they lay.

"Well, we'll look for those twins. We're not leaving until we find them."

"Yes, Master."

And so, our day passed by as we looked for them. No luck, so we slept in the cave; upon waking the next morning, there they were, curled up beside me, both of them… very close together. Boy and girl. Like their parents, they seemed to complement each other.

"Aww, they're cute," Helang said as he saw them.

"Yeah, they all are," I answered. "Then they grow up and go to waste with cuteness."

Helang made a fake laugh for my awesome joke.

"Well, that's funny," He said with sarcasm. "On other issues, how are we gonna name them?"

"Interesting question. A male and a female. Dark and light gray. Blue and yellow tones. They complement each other, almost like Yin and Yang. Two parts of one whole." I thought for a moment. "I know. He will be Mega, she will be Byte."

"Mega and Byte. Human words?" Helang guessed.

"A term for virtual storage. A megabyte."

"I see,"

We talked no more and took the pups home. Having them grow was like being a father for a second time. When young, Mega had a wound, a scar, on his left leg, and Byte had one on her right one, which made said leg and paw a little weaker. As they grew and became stronger that issue was solved. I was surprised that they didn't ask about their parents as Helang had done. Their personalities, they also contrasted, being Byte more focused and serious most of the time, while Mega, although older (that information came by premonition, though it made it clear that he was older for no more than a minute or two), had a more comic perspective and had more fun, but he knew to stay still and show seriousness when it was required.

She liked to hear me sing, and he liked me to tell jokes. Once a month I took a few days alone with each one, to get to know them better and watch over their personal interests. When they were six months old Helang and I began training once more, which influenced them just like I had influenced Helang once. One more time I told them the dangers of training, and explained them why we trained, and one more time, my kids accepted.

I never heard any of them two call me "dad", as they always heard Helang address me like "Master", so they just copied him. Mega found an easiness for aggressive elements, and Byte for the passive ones, they complimented each other. They both worked on their super-skills and super-senses, as well as healing and premonition. Occasionally I would go out and recruit more animals and one or two persons, so I would leave both twins under Helang's care, while I would redirect everyone I recruited to Jeffrey's location, so that we could achieve what he had told me we aspired to be.

When they became a year old, I was about twenty, I sent them to the city to find something. Premonition told me that they would have to find something for the next step of our journey, so I sent them both to find anything in the city, while Helang searched for enemy bases nearby. During that time, after the hawk came back and while we waited for the twins, we began to work on a couple of skills that would make it easier to fight off the shadows.

From there on, the three became independent. Byte came back a month later, without anything new. About then, we received Mega's location, and information on his actual situation. He was caring for some puppies he had found, and so Byte and Helang started going to visit him three days per week. By then I met a grizzly bear, whose name turned to be Bernard, whom I noted as the first pillar of light I had ever found, so I trained him while I was alone. Bernard progressed exceptionally well, he even learnt to manipulate time and how to make it pass slowly or quickly after a month and a half of training.

After that month and a half, when Byte and Helang told me that Mega was taking his kids back with the humans, I asked Byte once more to go look for something. Once she left I told Helang about the pillars of light and their part in our cause. Byte was away for a week and Mega for ten days, and they both came back with the next generation of students, Beta and Flor. Both started training, and for a while they didn't even made questions, but Beta finally gained some curiosity and asked. Then I had a talk with both of them. Unfortunately, Flor had a grudge, a feeling of abandonment that wasn't going away. When they were almost about to have a year training, Flor left. I anticipated this and told my kids to let her go. A week after that I sat under the night sky, a little away from them, to sing an old song I knew.

… _They can't tell me who to be_

 _Cuz I'm not what they see_

 _Yeah, the world is still sleeping_

 _While I keep on dreaming for me_

 _And their words are just whispers and lies that I'll never believe…_

Then I felt a presence behind me, a young puppy, but I kept singing.

… _And how can they say I'll never change_

 _They're ones that stay the same_

 _I'm the one now_

 _Cuz I'm still here_

 _I'm the one_

 _Cuz I'm still here_

 _I'm still here_

 _I'm still… here_

I gave a breath or two after finishing.

"It's a little late to be awake, don't do you think?"

"I'm sorry, sir…" Beta apologized.

"Oh, it's nothing like that. It's not normal that you're awake this late, that's all. Or there's something I can help you with?"

There was a small silence before she asked.

"Why did you let go Flor?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

Beta looked at me in confusion.

"Because she's going somewhere bad," She said.

"'Bad' is a relative term, little one," I signaled her to come closer. "I know she's your friend, but sometimes our path is different from our friend's, and you must know how to said goodbye, as you must know to welcome new friends."

"Yes, but…"

"You care for her," I began stroking her head, as I subtly released energy on it. While doing that, I blocked her mind so no shadow would be able to settle on it. "And you're willing to do anything to help her."

"That's right, sir,"

"Maybe we should work on another way for you to address me. I'm not _that_ old."

Beta chuckled at my comment. "Dad says you can be as fun and as serious as you want to."

"Well, that depends on the element I'm standing on."

"Element?"

"Yes. You have a thing for fire and its variant, but the other three are basic too. They have something to do with personalities, but I'll explain it later."

"Sir?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we gonna be okay?"

"Totally. What must happen, will. And don't forget that a little humor is always good."

Beta nodded, then yawned and curled up in my arms. I held her and sang to her until she fell asleep. Then I carried her back into the camp and placed her near her dad. By then I hardly ever ate, drank or slept, and my kids were beginning to develop that too.

Premonition told me it was time to build something bigger. A few days after Mega gave his daughter her first mission I told the three that I would be on a trip of no more than two and a half months. I presented Bernard to them, and asked them to finish his training. I, too, told them that I would meet them south, in California, once I were done. That being said, I went southeast, to meet an old friend.

Much faster than my first trip, I arrived to Nebraska in just three weeks, where I met an old Jeffrey.

"Hello, young Psyon."

"Hi, Jeff. I see you've… matured."

The bulldog answered with a dry laughter. "Indeed, young Psyon. But these three years haven't been in vain. I managed to recruit many animals an even a couple of people. And I found some of your old friends."

"Orion?"

"Orion and Choreftís," He said. "Although I can't tell if they're still alive. Apparently, a lunatic began to chase them, along with some other of your old friends. Few survived. Last time I knew about them two, they were moving south, to Mexico."

"Thanks for the info, Jeff. What else have you got?"

"We have several new divisions, mostly in the north, but we need one of your direct students to come and do recognition and take control of the operation."

"Look, that's really cool but we're kinda busy with the main organization, and I need all three of them with me. Maybe if Orion is alive and you convince him to come here… or do you know about another friend of mine that's still alive?"

"Well… we got reports of one who calls himself Xi."

"Xi is alive?! Well that's perfect. That guy is more than qualified for the job. Look for him and place him in charge. No, better yet, take me with him."

"As you wish, young Psyon."

We both moved from Nebraska to Virginia, where I found another old friend. As Centauri and Psyon, Xi was his alias. The guy was pretty much like me, but shorter in height and stronger in muscle. He had gone into hiding after a lunatic had attacked all of my old comrades. I talked to him and set him in charge of the operations and to expand them and to look for students, humans or animals.

With that deal done, I headed for California. The journey was silent and smooth; however when I arrived at the state and got the location of my kids, a premonition stopped me. I realized then I wouldn't see them again. I sat and waited on a rock near a state highway, meditating until I heard a car stop nearby.

* * *

 **And that's about it. Soul's past. Thanks a lot for reading this ultra-long-two-part-chapter, thanks for following, for favoritting. Special thanks to Basbon and his ever-present reviews and to ShadowScare, I really appreciate it, both of you. I guess that's all I have to say right now, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	33. Efforts give some results

Chapter 33: Efforts finally give some results

Once Soul finished telling his story, everyone who was listening, wherever they were, began to ask questions.

"How long did you live like this?"

"Did you ever use your claws in combat?"

Why did you always wear the hood?"

"What happened to your staff?"

" _Stop! For the love of… please, one at the time."_ Then there was a total silence. _"Ha, so funny. Well, if nobody's gonna ask, then I have to inquire into my best friend's past and see which steps did he take in order to become the head of a pretty large dark organization from our times and my nemesis without me even noticing."_

"But wasn't it predictable that he would end in the dark? I mean, you said he had interest in that for some years now."

" _Yes, Rhino. But I had really hoped that he would have kept his word, like he was doing when I left. Now I'll have to check his story in the records and see when and how he became a servant of the darkness. And now that I think about it, he was probably the lunatic who attacked my old friends. There were about ten of us, and at least three survived his first attack. I suppose he thought than I when I came back they would help me. Well, I will take no more of your time, I have some records to search."_

And thus, all communication with Soul was lost.

They day ended without news, Soul's kids spent most of it trying to get the Pitbull to talk, with no results. At Penny's home, with consent of the wolves and the hawk, they agreed that they would remind Bolt of his _real_ extraordinary abilities the following day. Kass disappeared again, and the others spent the day playing or training on their own.

In the building, the shadows continued with their work, everyone in their own. Two younglings were studying a way to block the modifications in Bolt's memories.

"So let me see if I understood. You don't know how to block the memories?"  
"Not exactly, sir, but we have a…"

"Damn it!" The elite shadow flared its hands and threw a small fireball into a piece of furniture, setting it on fire. "I knew it was too good to be true, I knew there was a catch!" The shadow began to move towards the younglings. "I'm going to skin the both of you!"

"Enough!" The mentor demanded, entering the room. "They've been more useful in this month than you and I together, and if they don't know how to block the puppy's memories, then one of them will keep on modifying them while the other investigates on how to block them."

"And how are they gonna do that, pea brain?"

"No better way to learn about someone's mind than to invade it."

Both young shadows were surprised to hear their mentor's proposal.

"What?"

"Alex, Shade, one of you two will go into the puppy's mind and see if you can find anything useful for you." The mentor explained. "Besides, you can bother him if you want, he won't have a way to distinguish good from bad right now. Blackmailing could be extremely easy, so enjoy it."

They both looked at each other and, as if they could read the other's thoughts, without saying word, Shade headed for the exit while Alex kept on working. The older shadows left the room too and got into talking.

"They'll do it fine."

"They better do. They're your pupils, and you haven't…"

"'Done a single job well since we got involved with the dog', yes, I know." The shadow answered in annoyance.

"But what you said is true, the puppy has no way of checking who really is on his side right now. It's their word against ours."

"But we have his memories too. When the time comes, we'll have a pillar of light turned into the first dark pillar of the world."

Meanwhile, at Penny's house, Bolt, Mittens and Rhino were asleep when Shade arrived.

Bolt's P.O.V.

Last night I didn't sleep well and today seemed to be happening the same. After Mittens told me what we were, something changed. As if my mind were forcing itself to remember her. Unfortunately, it was doing so at night, so I wasn't able to sleep well, although it seemed like it was working.

She and I were in an alley, it was night. There was a Pitubll near us, lying on the floor, and she looked at me, very happily and then… Ugh, I don't remember anymore, though it seems as one of the happiest moments we've lived.

I was losing myself in my thoughts, not sure if I was asleep or not, when I heard a dark and cold voice. "And how are you sure it's real? How do you know it's not all a play?"

"I wouldn't know," I answered. "Since I lost my memories I've been having strange dreams, some more than others."

"I didn't mean that," The voice told me. "How do you know she's not lying to you, that everything she's told you it's been said only to deceive you?"

"What would she gain by doing something like that?"

"I'm not the right one to tell you that, but answer my question. How can you be sure that everything you've been told is true?"

I thought about it for a second or two. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Let me introduce myself," A shadow appeared in front of me, smaller than I had heard they were. "My name is Shade."

"Hi, Shade, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was trying to find a way to reconnect your memories."

"Reconnect them? Oh, yeah… Mega and Byte said the shadows had stolen them."

"And can you trust them?"

"Of course I can," I said. "If they wanted to hurt me they would've done so when I woke near them."

"Don't be so sure, many beings are violent and cruel. You get to trust them and then they stab your back. I'll ask again, how can you trust them?"

"Because they're… they're my friends."

"Are you sure?"

"What are you trying to prove?"

"Nothing," Shade said. "I'm just curious that you trust them blindly; you don't know which side they're on…"

"On the side of life. They've stated it many times that all life is sacred," I said firmly. I was getting tired of his attitude, he surely wanted to get me away from them or do something to me.

"Yeah. Tell me something, pup. If all life is sacred, why do your 'friends' kill hundreds of us, eh?"

I didn't find an immediate answer to that.

"Because… you are…"

"Different. They judge us wrong just because we live feeding on another type of energy, one that they don't understand and scares them. They hunt us, like beasts, just because they don't understand us. They're using you, Bolt. Once they're done, they'll do something to you, to all of us, they'll make you suffer. And all that because of a single Machiavellian mind, and guess what? That mind is sleeping in your arms right now."

"No, that's not true."

"But it is; trust me Bolt, soon you'll have your memories back and you'll see the truth," Shade then disappeared and left me with a strong headache. Even though he was gone, I could still hear his voice clearly. "She's going to hurt you, Bolt. And then I'll enjoy telling you 'I told you'."

Everything around me grew gray, and then it began showing me iamges of my friends doing horrible things. They killed, they made others suffer. "No, that's not true!" Above all of them, there was Mittens, telling them what to do. "NO!"

"Bolt!"

"Ah!" I woke up breathing heavily. The first thing I saw was a pair of emerald green eyes with concern.

"Bolt, are you alright?"

"Yes, Mittens, I'm fine… It was… just a nightmare."

"Are you sure?"

"Y-Yeah, but, uh, could I ask you something?" She nodded. "I shouldn't trust anything a shadow told me, right?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"I just had a visit from one… and it said many things about everyone."

She looked ashamed of herself. "How could I be so dumb? We should've taught you that from the start. I'm so sorry, Bolt."

"It's okay, it's okay, nothing bad happened." I smiled to her and she calmed down. "So, about…?"

"Yes, you can't trust anything they say. I'm really sorry, Bolt, tomorrow we'll remember you how to get rid of them." She then laid her head on my chest.

"One more thing," I said before getting comfortable again. "Don't call yourself dumb, please. You're not, not one bit."

Mittens smiled at me and kissed my cheek. "Thank you, Bolt."

"You're welcome," I said, blushing. In my head a few blurred images of Mittens began to appear, in some different places, but I didn't catch any details. Without forcing my head too much I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep. Before I did, I heard Shade's voice once more.

"Don't trust them."

* * *

The next morning Bolt was the last one to get up, rather, they had to wake him.

"Bolt, wake up, Bolt," Mittens began to move him with a paw.

He groaned drowsily. "You're not using your claws again, right?" He asked without opening his eyes.

"Come on, Bolt, I'm not… what did you say?"

"I asked if you're not gonna use your claws again," He said without giving it much importance.

"Bolt, how do you remember what happened with the claws?" The dog opened his eyes wide and turned to see Mittens. "You remembered something?"

"I don't know, last night I saw that image in a dream. Blurred and thinking about it made my head ache, but you were there, and you used your claws… to wake me up." Bolt was trying to remember something else when Mittens rushed to hug him.

"You remembered, wags! It's working!" Her cries called Rhino to the place. "We have to tell the others. We have to tell them _right now._ "

"Why so scandalous?" Asked the rodent as he arrived.

"Bolt remembered something, rodent, that's why!" Mittens sprang out of the room.

"Really, Bolt?"

"I… I think so."

They both looked at each other for a few seconds before going down and check on Mittens. They found her in the kitchen, eating as fast as she could.

"Calm down, cat, you're gonna choke," Rhino told her.

Mittens swallowed a mouthful. "There's no time, rodent. We have to see why and how he remembered something." And she kept eating that fast.

Bolt and Rhino, once more, looked at each other and then began eating. Mittens finished a few seconds later and ran out of the kitchen. A few minutes they both followed her steps and went out, where everyone was aware of what had happened.

"Is it true, Bolt?" Mega asked as soon as he saw the dog.

"I think so,"

"How was it?"

"Well… I only remember one image. Blurry and static. I can't even tell what was going on around me at that time or why we were there."

"But that's a start," Byte interjected. "Any idea of how it might had happened?"

Bolt shook his head.

"Bolt told me that last night a shadow came to bother him, right, Bolt?"

"Yes," The shepherd answered. "It was saying many things with no sense." Despite having said that, the shadow had achieved its purpose, as it had aroused a slight doubt about Soul's kids' intentions. "Hey, where's Helang?"

"He stayed with the Pitbull, we weren't leaving him alone. But first, if you remembered something, you might remember more. In the meantime, let's put you up to date with the shadows and other important things."

Bolt nodded and leaned close to Mega to listen to his words.

Penny's P.O.V.

"Soul," I called him for a millionth time. "Where are you? I want to talk to you." Ever since he told us his story I had wanted to talk to him.

" _What?"_

"I think that you know what I'm about to ask."

" _Yes, but I'm making an effort not to interrupt you. So, what do you want to know?"_

"I want to talk to you,"

" _About?"_

"Your past."

He chuckled. _"If I've learnt something is that the past is to stay where it is. I told mine because I know yours and it seemed appropriate when Flor and Beta gave me the identity of the shadow leader. There's nothing to discuss about it."_

"What happened to your sister?" I asked, ignoring his words

" _You ignored me?"_

"Uh, yes."

" _Fine, just fine, OK. We both can play that."_ After that he just shut up.

"Soul, come on."

 _"I'm not hearing, I'm not hearing, la, la, la, la, la, la…"_

He kept singing his little kid song for some minutes before I got tired of it.

"Are you done?"

 _"I don't know, are you gonna stop asking?"_

"There's something about your past that bothers you. That's why you started your little dumb song."

" _I don't know… what you're talking about."_

"You stopped! You only stop mid-sentence when you're lying."

 _"And how can you know that?"_

"I've been talking to nobody but you in a month or even more. I've paid attention to your expressions."

I knew I was right, and he did too, so he was just going to sigh, like that, and then tell me that I was right. Watch.

" _Well, you're right. You've certainly paid attention. Yes, there's something about my past bothering me, but if I don't focus on the present, then I'll make the same mistakes and I can't afford that."_

"Then tell me what's bothering you."

 _"But I just did!"_

"No. Specify. You've helped me, and now I'm helping you."

" _I don't think you can find my sister."_ I kept quiet. _"I thought so. I appreciate your concern, if you want details there aren't so many. I just wish I could tell her what has become of me, and what was I doing all this time. She's the only family I've got left, and I left to protect her, even though she could hate me for abandoning her."_

"I don't think that she hates you. And if so, we can explain it all to her, that you left to become a hero. In these three years you raised three kids like your own, in an impressive way, you became the leader of the opposition to the shadows and… and you gave your life for mine…" I got to thinking. Soul had sacrificed himself for me, even when we were total strangers. "You gave your life for mine, so the least I can do is find your sister and tell her what happened."

" _Stop right there. I gave my life because that's what I had to do, you don't owe me anything."_

"You're right, but I don't care and still do as I said I would. When we finish this I'll help you find her, whether you want it or not."

He went silent for a few seconds. _"I guess you're not changing your mind, so thank you. I´ll do my best to get you out of here soon."_

"Thanks, Soul."

" _You're welcome,"_

And without saying more, he left as he had come.

* * *

Meanwhile in the barn of Penny's house, Mega had finished explaining Bolt some concepts they've been dealing with.

"Let me see if I understood," He said, "You convinced me that I had no superpowers and then I spent a month learning how to be a normal dog again, just for you to tell me that I _do_ have some kind of superpower?"

"Basically," Mega confirmed.

"The truth is that we didn't know what could happen if we didn't make the things like the first time, so we decided not to skip anything, to avoid problems." Byte added to her brother's comment.

"Okay, I suppose. So, you say I'm ready to go back to training?"

"Yes, but you're not gonna dedicate all your time to it."

"And what else should I dedicate my time to, Mega?"

"Well, if you look to your left…"

"What he's trying to say is that we've concluded that for your memories to come back you should spend some time with Mittens," Byte said. "Although we are not entirely sure, since the shadow who came by yesterday could've done something to affect that process, or any other circumstance that occurred recently."

"But we believe that if you two spend time together, more memories wil pop up."

"Sounds good," Mittens said. "But what will happen to the memories that he's getting about what's happening now?"

" _We had talked about it,"_ Helang commented in their minds. _"They're most likely to join the original memories, so he'll remember all of this and he'll also know that this is when he had no memories. There's also a possibility of the original memories imposing, which would make Bolt forget all of this and only remember his fight with the shadow. But one thing is certain, he'll believe whatever his original memories say. For example, if bolt had forgotten the color of the sky, and somehow got to think that it's yellow, once his memories are back in place he would realize that it's blue."_

"And why would you do something like that?" Bolt asked, with that doubt that Shade had placed in him.

" _Oh, we wouldn't, Bolt. We wouldn't lie to you,"_

"Sure,"

"Are you okay, Bolt? You look… confused." Rhino told him.

"I'm fine, Rhino, but I'd like to go for a walk." The dog looked at both wolves. "Is it okay if we start with all of this tomorrow?"

"Are you going to be that long?"

"I just want to clear my head before we start," Bolt said.

The two looked at each other for a moment. "Sure," they responded in unison.

"Thanks,"

Without further ado Bolt left the barn.

Mittens tried to follow him, but Peep stopped her with his paw.

"Sometimes… it's better… to let one think… alone. He need our help… he gonna ask… for it."

The cat smiled at him and lay down where she was.

Meanwhile in the building, Shade had returned with some important information.

"And then you move this here and that's it. Any questions, Bud?"

"Yeah," The bigger shadow scratched its head. "What exactly have we been doing for the last forty minutes, Alex?"

Alex hit his own forehead in frustration by the lack of perception of his companion. Before he could answer Bud, the star pupil entered the room.

"Guys, I've got what we need."

"Really? Great…" Bud said, not entirely sure what was the thing that they needed.

"But that's not all," Shade kept going.

"What else?"

He smiled grimly. "Let's just say I've placed a seed of mistrust for his friends."

"Oh, that's great, it'll make our job easier. We could…"

Both adult shadows entered the place, one behind the other one, interrupting Alex.

"How was it, Shade?" The mentor asked.

"Could you stop interrupting me? I haven't…"

"Did the kid bring what we need?"

"Ugh! Yes, he did. We're going back to work and… You know what? You tell them, they're gonna interrupt me anyway."

Shade rolled his eyes and turned to both adults. "I managed to make the puppy begin to doubt his friends' intentions, very little and very deep. It'll make it easier for our memories to synchronize with him. I also found how to block them, but we must finish modifying them first."

"Well done, Shade. I need you to put all your time and effort on this; you have to finish before the date. I feel the Pitbull could screw it."

"Yes, sir," Without hesitation, both shadows got back to work.

The afternoon kept going with Bolt away from the group, trying to think about his small, but unsolvable doubt. After all, they had warned him about the shadows, as the shadow had warned him about them. Both claimed to be with him, and if he asked again they both would assert that the other was his enemy. Processing all of that without his memories was getting tiring. The dog was thinking aloud.

"But the shadows took away my memories, didn't they? If they were friends, why would they do that? That's a point against them. Besides, Mittens is on this side and she's my mate, right?" He said , trying to clear some doubts. "But, supposing she weren't, she could be saying so to deceive me… No! Of course not! She would never do that to me, I can… feel it, yes I can feel it. Byte said that if I were confused I should shut my head and listen to my heart… but what if she's part of the deceiving? No, I'm not getting anywhere and I'm just getting more and more confused. I'll keep it the same, it's worked so far: I trust them, I trust Mittens, they're my friends, the shadows are not. Yes, that's it. Besides, there's the picture, where we're with Penny. That's proof enough, I suppose." And thus, he headed back home.

Jonathan, Peep, Flor, Mittens and Rhino were playing in the garden. No trace of the others. Peep was the first one to notice him.

"Hi… Bolt."

As soon as they heard that name, everyone stopped the game and looked back at Bolt. "Hi," Said dog answered.

"You feel better?" Rhino asked.

"Yes, thanks, buddy." _I'm just where I started, but besides that I'm perfect._

"What did you do?"

"Thinking, just trying to remember something by calming my head, Rhino,"

"Did it work?"

Bolt shook his head. "But it doesn't matter. What were you playing anyway?"

While the shepherd integrated into the game, at camp Beta was thinking away from the three and the Pitbull. She was so deep into her thoughts that she didn't hear Mega move closer to her until he was just in front of her.

"Beta? Beta, come one, wake up." The wolf began to move a paw in front of her eyes.

It took her a few seconds, but she reacted. "Uh… what?"

"Is something wrong?" She looked away from her dad's gaze, thinking of a lie to say, but Mega kept talking. "If you're saying something, then let it be the truth."

She looked at the floor and resignedly sighed. "I think I should tell you and the guys something."

"Sure, I'll bring them," Mega went back to camp, leaving Beta to think. He came back to reality when she heard Byte in the distance asking her brother what was that all about, to what he replied that he didn't know. The three of them came to the young Labrador retriever and sat in front of her.

"Alright, what's the matter, little one?" Helang asked.

Beta hesitated a little. She wasn't even sure of what she had seen. "I… I don't know where to start."

"From the start,"

"Not now, Mega."

"I was just saying… you're boring." He commented in a low voice.

"Well," Beta began. "The day we brought in the Pitbull was the same day some shadows attempted to free him, right?" The three nodded. "Well, I think they weren't trying to free him. Come one, we've seen many strategists within that organization, and they do a YOLO type attack in order to free one of their own?" Mega had to put some effort in not laughing at his daughter's comment. "No, I think they were trying to do something else."

"Something like what?"

"I'm not sure, uncle Helang, but I think they wanted to tell the Pitbull something. While you were facing the shadows, another one came to the tree where the dog is tied up. I think it was a rookie, it broke a branch from the tree that gave him away. After that, it just jumped and tried to attack, again, like a rookie. When I sent him to the floor I heard him whisper something to the Pitbull, though I only got to listen clearly something like "Sixteen without" or something similar. When he got up, he just ran away and left the Pitbull here."

"Thanks for telling us, Beta."

"Maybe he won't talk for sixteen somethings…"

"Days, weeks, months… well, probably not months, but we have no way of knowing."

"We could torture him." The three looked at Mega. "What?"

"We're not torturing anyone. We must be smarter than he is. Maybe we can trick him into talking without realizing it."

They all nodded to Helang's statement and went back to where he was tied. He didn't seem to want to escape, for reasons now understood by all of them.

A couple of hours later Beta was asleep, Helang and Byte were patrolling air and ground respectively. Mega was taking care of the Pitbull. The wolf was staring at him with a clear annoyance in his eyes, a look that the Pitbull interpreted as an opportunity to have fun.

He began with a somber smile. "I'll never say anything."

Mega answered without changing his gaze, but with his usually friendly tone. "You just did,"

The Pitbull growled by that answer. "You know what I mean, your friend will never know of his memories again."

Mega ignored him. "How long did they ask you to be quiet, huh? What are they doing with that time?"

"You're paranoid, aren't you, my friend?"

"Well, you're tied. And you have that pretty scar on your forehead, it highlights your eyes." Without saying more, he turned and started to walk away.

The Pitbull got mad and tried to bite Mega, though he wasn't able to move one inch. "You'll see once I have my paws on you! I'll make you all suffer, and I'll start with the little doggy!"

Mega stopped and turned to see the Pitbull. "What did you say?"

"I said I'll make you all suffer, and I'm starting with…"

Mega darted towards the tied dog and placed a paw on his neck.

"You listen carefully, because I'll only say it once. If you dare touch her, if you place a paw on her, I'll tear you apart, you hear me?" The Pitbull, unable to breath, nodded resignedly. "I thought so," The wolf slowly removed his paw and let the dog breath again.

The Pitbull took a few seconds to catch his breath, then watched Mega move away from him again. "She has no chance…" Mega turned quickly and scratched his face, leaving a mark on the left side of it. "What the…?!"

"You better shut up now," Mega warned him and turned again.

"Change of plans, I'll start with you. And when I'm done…" The Pitbull saw that Mega was just ignoring him. "Hey!"

The wolf moved out of earshot from the Pitbull and began to chuckle, but his "amusement" was broke with a comment of his sister.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"You. Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

Byte despaired of her brother's behavior. "What you just did! Why did you mistreat him?"

"I don't have to explain it all to you. I did it, period. Is there a problem?"

"Yes, you're not supposed to attack someone who's un…"

"I'm not supposed," Mega interrupted. "to make suppositions, as you're doing right now, girl." Byte looked annoyed and left Mega alone. "You trust me, I don't do things without having a reason." He told himself once she was away.

* * *

 **Okay, so here's chapter 33. Comments: If you think Mega's attitude with the Pitbull has nothing to do with Mega's normal self, just as he said, he made what he made for a reason. Nothing else to say right now, except thanks for reading. Special thanks to Basbon and ShadowScare for reviewing and to everyone who's following this. Nothing else to say right now, nos vemos luego!**


	34. A Race, a Change and a Talk

Chapter 34: A race, a change and a talk

A couple of days later Bolt was already training his abilities again, proving that Mega had been right when he mentioned that they were still there, since the dog was getting to the point where he had stayed at a great pace; hyperspeed was the first one of this abilities to come back. As for the moment, Bolt and Mega where discussing the possibility of a race between them, with the rest of the group as spectators.

"Well, fine, but there's no way you could defeat the master," The wolf was saying, with air of proudness.

" _That's settled, Mega. That's why he's racing you, and not me,"_ Soul chuckled in response.

The wolf faked a laugh. "How funny of you, master," He answered. "I was talking about myself."

" _I know,"_ Then there was a small silence. _"I have to go. Don't do crazy things."_

"So, Mega? Are we racing?" Bolt asked. He was eager to measure his speed in comparison to one of Soul's students. Although he hadn't resolved his doubt yet, he had to admit that he always had a good time with the group.

"If you want to lose, let's do it."

Helang then spoke up.

"However, if you want to measure hyperspeed, it has to be a big distance."

"From here to camp," Mega said. "I'd like to say hello to my little 'friend'." Both Helang and Byte stared at Mega with some accusing looks. "What? He's out there, all alone," He said, with exaggerated sarcasm.

The comment didn't help, particularly with Bolt, but his eagerness was bigger, so he said nothing about it. Nevertheless, he remembered something that could be important.

"Wait a second. I don't remember where your camp is."

"It's in the woods, Bolt."

"He knows that, you genius!" Byte scolded. "He's asking in which _part_ of the forest."

"Fine, fine, geez, calm down…" Mega got into thinking for some seconds. "I know! I'll show you the way to camp, and then we'll race from there to here."

"Sounds good," The shepherd answered.

"Oh, this is gonna be be-awesome!"

"And we'll see who's faster," Mega stated.

"Well, I hope it's you, wolf," Kass said. "If Bolt can beat you without memories and with no more than a week of training, then, boy you're in some trouble." The cat began to laugh at such thoughts.

"In a few minutes we'll see who laughs, tiger," Mega retorted, silencing Kass. Then the wolf looked at the dog. "Ready?"

"Sure thing," But then Bolt saw that Mittens wouldn't stop looking at him. "Just give me a moment."

Bolt then approached the cat and asked if everything was okay.

"Yes… just be careful." She said. He smiled at her and nodded, and then held her for a couple of seconds.

"Ready, Mega," Bolt said as soon as he let go of Mittens. "Let's go."

"Alright, champ. We'll walk so you don't spend your energy."

"Sure,"

Nothing more was said and they both began to walk, the dog behind the wolf, heading for the woods.

While those two reached their destination, in the abandoned building, Shade and Alex were still working. They had finished modifying the memories, but they still had to block them.

"How long do you say it will take?"

"At least one week, sir." Shade reported.

"So much?"

"Sir, blocking the memories is by far the most complicated part. It could even take after the agreed date, assuming complications."

"Then don't let complications arise, Shade. I'm counting on you; you've even impressed the idiot of my partner. You can show him what you're capable of."

"I heard someone calling me?" The elite shadow asked as it entered the place.

"Yes, I called for an idiot and you showed up. Funny coincidence, isn't it?"

"Shut up, pea brain, I'm here to check on the little guys." The elite shadow turned to the young ones who were working on the memories. "How's it going?"

"We're doing fine, sir. We've calculated that it will take ten days for them to be ready."

"December twenty?"

"Yes. A day or two before that if we worked non-stop."

"I like how it sounds; do it." Before anyone could object, the shadow raised its hand. "But not here. I need you to move to 2F."

"Why do you want to send them there?" The mentor asked.

"Because the Pitbull's gonna send the idiots there when he talks. But I'm sensing, and I hope you too, that the chances of him talking early are increasing more and more, so it'll be easier if the two get to work there and not here. If the wolves go and there are no memories for them to recover, then we win nothing."

"Okay, I guess," Then the shadow addressed its students. "Alex, Shade, take whatever you're using to work on the memories and move it to the warehouse 2F."

"Yes, take you stuff and move it there. Move."

As both students began to pick up things, Mega and Bolt were arriving at the camp. Mega was telling Bolt some stories from when he was with all of his puppies.

"I was surrounded, there was no way out. I closed my eyes, accepted my destiny, and it came. I was tackled and ended up in the floor with six little puppies playing on top of me." The wolf was saying as he came to a stop. "Look, we're here. Hi, buddy, I'm home," He said, addressing the Pitbull. That dog hadn't made an attempt to escape once, even though he was left alone for some hours every day.

"Why is he not doing anything?" Bolt asked.

"No idea," Mega told him. "We believe he's waiting for orders, or a specific day to talk."

Bolt looked at the Pitbull for a few seconds. The tied dog answered the look in an aggressive way, with malice in his eyes, making Bolt gulp. "I-I think we'd better get going."

"Sure, give me a few seconds," The wolf closed his eyes. "Byte, we're about to start."

" _Understood. Don't do anything silly, Mega. It's just a race."_

"Come on, you're talking to me."

" _That's exactly why I said it."_

"Oh, forget it," Mega opened his eyes and turned to Bolt. "Ready?"

Bolt nodded, and Byte said one more thing.

" _Remember, the goal is the barn. Whoever gets in first, wins."_ Both competitors nodded. _"Ready?"_

"Yes," Both said at a time.

" _Go!"_

Both of them started running, initially with normal speeds and gradually increasing. Mega was the first one to reach hyperspeed, with Bolt following seconds later. The wolf was taking advantage, but Bolt saw a fallen tree, ran over it and jumped from its trunk to fall ahead of his rival. Neither of them said anything. They just were too concentrated. In a matter of minutes they left the forest behind. As the houses multiplied in the distance, they began to pay attention to which one was Penny's. The dog was barely on the lead when he found the right house and changed his direction to it.

When Bolt looked back, he couldn't see Mega anywhere. He didn't pay much attention and kept running. When he had the barn in sight, the wolf suddenly appeared from somewhere and began to run besides him. They both entered extremely close to each other to the barn.

"Who would've said it? It was a tie."

"What do you mean, 'a tie'?" Mega complained. "No, no, no, no; let's repeat it."

"Not now," Helang told him.

"Why not, Helang?" Mega turned to see what the hawk was pointed at and found a very tired Bolt. "Oh," The wolf moved towards the dog and shook his paw. "Well done."

"You… you too," Bolt said, catching his breath.

"You better rest for a while," The wolf advised. "Your body has to get used to these speeds and to moderate the energy you spend on it. Do you want to talk about something?"

"Actually, I'd like to be alone for a while."

"Okay, as you wish." Mega walked out of the barn without saying more.

In the meantime, the shadows were moving all of their things from the main building to the 2F warehouse by request of the elite shadow.

"Dwarves, how much more do you have to move?"

"You know," Shade said. "This would be much faster if you helped us; we would probably be done by now."

"It's a shame I'm not helping then. But you have pea brain for that."

The shadow entered the warehouse a couple of seconds later, carrying many things. "With this one, there have been seven. How many more trips do we have to do?"

"That was all, master."

"Then I guess it's a good time for me to tell you that you could've placed all of your stuff on an auto-transporter to move them here, instead of coming and going." The elite shadow laughed. "I'll call for the 'security' for this place in a couple minutes." And thus, still laughing at its prank, the elite shadow left.

"He's such a…"

"Master," Alex interrupted.

"What is it, Alex? Where are Bud and James?"

"They're both playing around, I guess. But it's not about that; the point is that we still have about half of our things back there."

"Then why did you say we were done?"

"Because from the moment we started moving things, he had a smile on his face. I thought that he was hiding something, and now we can you the transporter to bring the rest of our things here."

"Very well done, Alex."

"Shade will go back to the building and place the stuff on the auto-transporter, setting the coordinates for this place as destination. Meanwhile… I'll get to organizing this mess."

"I'll help you with that," The mentor told Alex.

Then Shade left the warehouse at full speed while the other two shadows got to organize what was there already-

The afternoon was past its mid-part and Bolt was still inside the barn. Mittens had come inside to talk to him for a while, before leaving him to think at his request. Mega and Byte were playing with the Labrador retrievers. Helang, Rhino, Peep and Flor were meditating. Jonathan had been looking for Kass' scent to track, for the cat had disappeared again, with no result so far. The white shepherd was trying to think on something that could help him, a reference point for which could be the "right" side. Despite having a good time with the group, Shade's doubt had grown as well.

"I need to talk to someone impartial," He thought out loud.

"Impartial in what?"

Bolt was startled to hear another voice inside the barn. "Who's there?"

"Ah, relax, dog," A third voice called, softer than the other one.

"It's not that easy, considering that you two are here, listening to me."

"And how do you know we haven't been here all afternoon long, huh?"

"Because you would've gotten hungry, and you would've complained about it." The other voice said.

"Don't talk, you just spoiled the mystery."

"Oh, shut up."

"Hey, calm down, both of you. And I would be grateful if you showed me who you are."

A few feet from Bolt a couple of shadows arose, one large and muscular build and another one small and thin, almost scrawny.

"He's Bud," Said the second one. "I'm James."

"You're shadows…"

"Uh… yeah."

"And what are you doing here?" Bolt asked.

"We could ask you the same thing," Bud retorted.

"I live here."

"Ah,"

"Oh, let me talk, Bud." James looked at Bolt. "Why that face?"

The dog didn't answer.

"He has problems."

"Will you shut up, Bud?"

"How do I know I can trust you?" The dog asked directly.

"You don't, as you don't know if you can trust them. Even so, you _do_ trust them. Why?"

Bolt stared into the floor, trying to find an answer. "Because…"

"Look, let's set all of this aside, dog."

"What?"

"For a while, let's forget this quarrel. Light and darkness, betrayals, superabilities. Let's see another angle of things. Look for us at the edge of the forest." James told him just before disappearing. Moments later, Bud followed him.

Bolt couldn't be more confused. Even so, and without knowing why, he left the barn and headed for the forest, having to tell his friends that he was going for a walk. No one argued with that, so he went away alone, just as he had planned. When he was out of sight he used hyperspeed to reach the forest fast.

"Well, that was fast," Bud said. He was waiting for him, like a shadow in the trunk of a tree.

Bolt went straight to the point. "What do you want me here for?"

From the trees a shadow-dog appeared. Like the first one he'd met, it had no snout, no ears or nose; it was just a general, base form.

"To play," The somber dog said, approaching Bolt.

"What?"

"Play," The dog repeated. "Haven't you ever played?"

"Not with a shadow," Bolt commented.

"Hey," James said in annoyance. "One, I spent a lot of energy to take this form and two, what you're saying humans call it racism. And it's _not cool._ "

"Come on, dog," Bud added. "It'll be fun. Forget light and dark, just play."

James got into playing position and waited for Bolt, who hesitantly imitated him a few seconds later. "Come on, dog, catch me of you can," James ran away.

 _Forget about the light and the dark, forget about the light and the dark, forget about the light and the dark… Come on, Bolt, he's leaving you behind._

Bolt shook his head and began chasing James, who had a little advantage on him. "Ha! You're slow, for being a real dog," He said mockingly.

"We'll see about that," The shepherd responded by turning on his hyperspeed, which made him catch James almost immediately. Bolt touched him on one side and then ran in the opposite direction. "Who's the slow one now?"

"We're about to see that," The shadow answered.

When the sky turned orange, Bud stopped the game and reminded James that they had to go back.

"True, buddy," The shadow-dog left its dog form and turned to Bolt. "It was a pleasure to play with you and forget about… all of this, at least for a while."

"Yeah, I agree," The dog answered.

"See you later, dog," Bud said as they left.

Both shadows sank into the ground and slid away from him. Bolt watched the direction they had taken for some minutes and then headed back home, his doubt more latent than before.

The dog stopped a few blocks before arriving home. He needed to think, a lot, despite being hungry from his playtime.

"But where?"

"'Where' what?"

Bolt jumped, stifled a scream and looked over the house where the voice had come from. Kass was lying on the roof, totally calmed.

"A place to think. Alone." Bolt explained.

"Well, I know several; it depends on which one suits you, or the topic you wanna deal with."

Bolt deciphered that the cat was asking him what was his problem and, for some reason, he decided to answer his question.

"I don't know who to trust."

Kass jumped from the roof and walked to Bolt. "Does this overwhelm you?" The dog nodded. "Well, that's reasonable. You have no memories, no references… Interesting." The cat smiled.

"What do you have in mind?"

"I want you to find me here tomorrow around noon. But I require you to follow certain steps. Pay attention."

Meanwhile at Penny's house, the wolves were already saying goodbye to return to camp, however Mega asked Byte and Helang to go without him.

"Why?"

"Please. I'll go in a minute."

Byte wasn't convinced by Mega's answer. Nevertheless, she turned around and began walking. Helang took flight, leaving Mega alone with Beta.

"What's the matter, dad?"

"I need to talk to you."

"It has to do with the Pitbull, doesn't it?"

"Your premonition is improving, my little girl. I want you to convince him that you still have a shadow on your mind, and thus, to get him to tell you what's going on."

"It won't work, dad. He's seen us together."

"You can tell him that you're undercover, that we're dumb and that you need to know what they're planning to help… or something like that, you can improvise. Okay, don't improvise, but you can come up with something convincing."

Beta nodded. "I'll do it."

"Thanks, kid. Now come on, the guys are waiting for us."

Arriving the night, two shadows were reported late returning to the abandoned building.

"And where were you two?"

"Playing."

"Playing?" The elite shadow asked. "Being so close to achieve a dark pillar you two get to play?"

"Well, Shade and Alex have covered the realm of altering the memories, and you and our master have been doing… whatever. So since we didn't get any assignments for today, Bud and I went out to play."

"And what did you play?"

"Tag."

"Just the two of you?"

"When did we become prisoners? Because I'm feeling like I'm being interrogated. Yes, both of us. Alone, and I'm not answering any more questions."

The elite shadow then shifted its sight to Bud.

"And you, big guy?"

"What do you want to know?"

The elite shadow stared into Bud's eyes. He was not moving, solid as a rock, and not willing to reveal anything.

"Nothing. Get out of here," The elite shadow told them simply.

The rest of the night passed on with no relevant events. Once dawned, Bolt was the first one to wake up. Careful of not waking Mittens up, he went down to have breakfast and then waited for his friends lying on the couch, thinking about what Kass might want with him that day at noon. About half an hour later Mittens and Rhino went down, somewhat surprised by the hour Bolt had risen.

After that the trio of friends went out to meet the rest of the group; Kass was missing, of course. They all trained for a while and played for another until it was almost noon.

"Guys, I'm going out for a walk," Bolt announced as he stopped running.

"Another one?" Mega asked. "Where do you go when you do that?"

"I'm just trying to clear my head, Mega. See if I can remember anything."

"Well, if you place your attention on a certain black cat with green eyes standing next to you…"

"Yes, I know," Bolt said. "But I would like to go out on a walk, alone."

They all looked at him in confusion. "Okay, Bolt," Mega said after a few seconds. "If you need anything, you know how to call us."

"Yes, thank you," Without saying more, the dog left the place, headed for the meeting place with Kass."

"He's worrying me, he didn't do that before," Mittens said once he left.

"The cat is right. That sort of behavior is brand new," Rhino added.

"Patience, guys, it will all be over soon," Mega told them.

"How can you be sure, Mega?"

"We'll get the Pitubll to talk and recover his memories. You trust me, girl."

In a couple of minutes Bolt was already at the place where Kass had told him they would meet, but no one was there. The dog lay down and waited while he kept thinking.

After twenty minutes Kass' voice became present.

"So, you did come."

The dog turned and saw him somewhat annoyed. "Where have you been?"

"I've been here all morning, but I wanted to make sure they hadn't followed you. Come with me." The cat led the dog for fifteen minutes to what looked like a small abandoned house.

"We're here."

"What's this place?" Bolt asked.

"The place where I come whenever I'm not with y'all. Now, when you leave this place, you'll probably still be confused, but you'll have another way of looking at things that may help you make a decision."

The cat smiled and entered the house through a pet door in deplorable conditions. Bolt followed him and entered the place; it was totally ruined. There were cobwebs everywhere, rotting furniture and broken windows. "And… what exactly do you do here?" Bolt asked, looking around.

"Before I tell you, I need you to promise me that this is between you and me; no matter light or darkness, you're an honorable dog, right?" Bolt nodded. "Well, then I'll tell you. I come here to learn, to inform myself, or whatever you wanna call it. The point is that I come to talk to them two."

When the cat finished that sentence two beings made presence in the place, moving around all of the room and not staying still until they stood up behind Kass. A shadow and a light equal and opposite. Both had six eyes, the shadow blue and the light orange in color, and were totally black and white respectively. Two hands, five fingers, they levitated on the floor and had the characteristic "tail" instead of legs, and floated near the ground. Almost the size of an adult, and had a mouth, which seemed to disappear if they closed it.

"Who are they?"

"Umbra," Kass pointed to the shadow. "And Lux," and he pointed to the light. "A shadow and a light I met shortly after this began."

"How can they not kill each other right now?"

"Remember Soul's story? Long ago, really long ago, shadows and lights lived in peace. It was an external influence that corrupted the shadows and them this madness began. Umbra, right here, is a 'clean' shadow; it's not corrupted. I mean, it does feed on negative energy, nobody can change that without purifying it, but it only feeds on the natural-generated one. So, for example, if someone dies and his/her family grieves for a week; Umbra will feed on that energy, but it won't be bothering that family for six months just to try and squeeze the same lemon for more juice. Lux, well, has no problem getting food…"

"Wait. I don't understand; if he feeds on the suffering of others he can't be good, can he?"

"That's why I say there are no accidents. If you hadn't put yourself between Mittens and that shadow, you wouldn't have lost your memories, you wouldn't have gone through all of this and you wouldn't be opening your mind a little more," The cat said. "First, light doesn't mean good, like dark doesn't mean bad, just like having a gun doesn't make you bad, or going to church makes you good. Good and bad are relative things, just like right and wrong."

"Seen that way," Kass kept going. "Things are from zero. No one seeks for evil; everyone's looking for something good. The thing is to seek balance between light and dark. Shadows and lights have always existed and, like Umbra and Lux, they used to get along; the problem started when someone altered the balance. There are two kinds of beings of this type," Kass pointed to both spectres, still behind him. "The first is the natural one; a lot of lights and some shadows. Both feed on the energy that physical beings generate naturally. The second, and pay attention here, is the 'soldier'. This type of shadow, or light–yes, lights too–, has no other objective than to destroy the other side. They have no other thoughts, no other goals, they don't know the word truce and have no reproductive capacity. All those shadows Centauri has artificially formed have no other purpose but to destroy the light. They don't want peace, they don't want vacations, family…"

"Wait, can shadows have a family?"

"Well, not in the way you know a family, but yes, and lights too. Well, not the soldiers, since without that issue their attention goes directly and exclusively to combat. Umbra and Lux could do it, but they rarely go out. It's not common to see opposite sides get along. Anyway, I repeat, it's not the case here, but it's possible, and likely, that light organizations somewhere are creating soldier lights with the only purpose of crushing the darkness. No, it's not about that; the thing is to seek the balance in between light and dark, sun and moon, day and night, black and white, yin and yang, fire and water. Humans think that animals, specifically dogs, only see in black and white."

Bolt scoffed. "That's ridiculous."

"You don't have to tell me," Kass said. "Though, certainly, they do see more colors than we do. But the point is that, from a certain perspective, almost all living things see only in black and white. This is good, this is bad; yes and no; I like and I don´t. But reality is that it shouldn't be like that, because between black and white there are thousands of gray tones. I agree, though not completely, with what the wolves and the hawk think. That's why I've been coming here. They have taught me to take advantage of both types of energy, to find a balance between earth and sky, a middle point between black and white.

Sometimes it's beneficial to use negative energy; correct me if I'm wrong, but it can be very difficult to stay happy or at peace while you're fighting. It's not impossible, but it's not easy either. In those moments you can use your own anger or annoyance to boost your abilities. However, you must not abuse on this, or on any of them both energies. Now, there's no point in trying to kill all shadow or light soldiers. No, the modifications to make them soldiers can be removed. To clean those shadows without purifying them, you would only need the light, or dark, power of a very capable being, probably the pillar, and use an ability to get rid of the programming. It's also true that as shadows grow, some characteristics get removed from their programming, for the very reason that nature always imposes. But it doesn't work in every shadow or on every aspect and that's where the pillar destroying the programming comes in.

Unfortunately, the objective has to agree since it's not like corrupting or purifying. So, even though many shadows will prefer to die before allowing something like this to happen, some will accept it and they won't be forced to change side."

Bolt couldn't even find the words to say something after hearing all of that.

"I…I…"

"Light doesn't mean 'good', and dark doesn't mean 'bad'. Both can be on the side of life, as on the side of death."

I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything," The cat told him and then turned to the specters. "Thanks, guys, see you in two days."

Without a word, Umbra and Lux moved through the place as they had done when they came in, and disappeared as fast as they had appeared.

"Come on, they must be waiting for you."

"You're not coming with me?" Bolt asked.

"It would be suspicious that you left alone and came back with company, wouldn't it? And I have other things to do."

"Such as?"

"Sleeping. But beforehand, I want to know your opinion."

Bolt took a few seconds to think. "I guess you're right. The idea is not to alter the things that happen naturally, and if it's natural that some shadows exist, then it's okay. Trouble comes when either side tries to alter that."

"Well said. Even so, you have to trust that everything will be fine, even…"

"Even when it's not!" Bolt's eyes widened. "Even when it's not! Kass, I just remembered something!"

The cat looked at him with a smile. "Interesting. So that's how it's working."

"What? How is it working?"

"Tell me if I'm wrong. Both now and the last time you were thinking or processing information. After that, you received a stimulus of some kind, but something that you had previously experienced. Thus, you remembered something related to the stimulus you received. That means…"

"That I should go to Mittens. Now."

Kass smiled. "Run."

Bolt ran off to Penny's house without looking back. "Thanks, Kass!"

"You're welcome," The cat muttered quietly. Umbra and Lux appeared shortly after Bolt left. "Well, at least someone else in the group sees things more clearly now," Both specters nodded slowly and silently. "Anyway, I have to go find food, you guys. See you later."

Kass then left the shadow and the light, who disappeared from the place a moment later.

* * *

 **Okay guys, here it is. I'm very tired right now, I have only two weeks left before returning to school, so I'm trying to do a lot of things at a time. But I'll keep on updating every week as promised. Special thanks to Basbon and ShadowScare for reviewing; special thanks to everyone following this story. I guess that's all I have to say right now, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	35. Multiple situations

Chapter 35: Multiple situations

Bolt ran without stopping once until he returned to the group, studying which would be the best way to analyze something and then receive some sort of stimulus that he had previously received. It was a little confusing. When he arrived he found that Beta was missing, besides Kass of course; but he didn't have it any importance, for he wanted to begin as soon as possible.

"Guys!" He shouted from a distance. "I found a way of remembering!"

"Really?" Bolt nodded. "How?"

"Apparently it's a small process, Mega," The shepherd answered. "It seems that first I have to put my head to work, thinking or analyzing a complex problem. Then I have to go through something that has happened before, and with that I will remember something related to that situation."

"How did you get to that conclusion?"

"Kass helped me."

"You saw Kass?!"

 _Oops, I think I said too much. Think of something, now!_ "Uh, yeah. I… I bumped onto him while I was thinking. The fact is that I was thinking heavily, and then Kass said that everything would be fine, even if it wasn't. As soon as he said it I remembered that I had said that to Mittens somewhere before. The same thing happened with the claws: The night before I was thinking a lot and then she did something similar to the first time."

"Interesting," Helang said. "It seems to be an effective method."

"Yeah, but it doesn't work completely. I can barely remember some images."

"But you're already remembering things. Put it into practice."

"Sure," Then Bolt's curiosity won. "Uh, where's Beta?"

Meanwhile, at camp…

"Those filthy wolves. They're a nuisance. And the hawk, ha, with his stupid meditation; I never did any of that and…"

"And you ended up tied in a tree," A voice interrupted him.

"Who's there?" The Pitbull growled.

From the trees a Labrador Retriever emerged, with light brown fur. "I am here,"

"What are you doing here? Did you come to tell me a joke or something?"

"You're naive, you're ignorant. You're… are you new?"

"New?" The Pitbull asked.

"Yes, you are. Then we haven't been introduced," Beta made a slight gesture with her paw. "Elite shadow AJ3752; pleasure to meet you."

"Wait a second; are you… one of them? Of the two legendary shadows?"

"Then you've heard of us."

"Of course, no one in the organization hasn't… but we were told that we had lost you."

"Unfortunately, we lost my partner. Flor was purified and her shadow is dead. I, on the other hand, managed to fake it pretty well, if I do say so myself. Everyone on the group thinks I'm with them."

"What are you doing here?"

"They sent me to infiltrate their lines with my companion. I lost communication with the base after I got here, so I don't know any news; I need you to tell me the plan, so I can help you."

The Pitbull was about to talk when he got a doubt. "Wait a second. If you're one of us, why did you attack the messenger?"

"Because I could've blown it if I didn't. That's why you have to be strong to go undercover, you gotta be prepared to hit some of your comrades to be convincing. Now tell me what I need to know."

"Sure. It's a trap…"

"Wait," Beta interrupted and turned around. "They're calling me; if I don't go I could raise suspicions. We'll finish this conversation later."

"It'll be a pleasure to cooperate with one of the greats."

Beta smiled at the Pitbull and ran off to Penny's house. "Poor, hopeful, guy," She muttered as she ran.

The Pitbull stood where he was. "Well, she's a good actress. I really thought she was with them. I can't tell her everything, but a little part."

Beta arrived at Penny's house fifteen minutes later. "What is it, dad?"

"I'm sorry, I know he was about to speak, but apparently Bolt found a way to recover his memory."

"It doesn't matter, he already said that it's a trap; I'll ask him for details later. But regarding what you said, how is he recovering his memories?"

"He's not, not yet. He discovered that if he puts his head to think heavily and then go through something he's already been through, then he remembers a little related to that situation."

"Then we'd have to give him something to think about while we re-live previous experiences."

"The thinking part is already settled. He's already thinking in something, though he didn't tell what. The rest is what you said."

Beta looked around. "That's why neither he, nor Mittens, nor Rhino are here."

"Yep."

"And the others?"

"We've no idea about Kass; Jonathan, Peep and Flor went out with their persons. And your siblings are playing with uncle Helang and aunt Byte."

"Then let's go play with them."

Mega smiled. "Let's go with them."

At the time Mega and Beta joined the others to play three other situations were taking place in three other places. In the park, Jonathan, Peep and Flor were playing with Diego and Fer.

"Go get it, boy!" Diego said as he threw a ball.

"Mine! I… have it!" Peep ran after the ball; he jumped to catch it mid-air, but didn't reach the toy and fell flat to the ground.

"Peep!" Flor ran up to him. The dog had his face into the ground and he was shaking a little. She assumed the little guy was crying, and such was her surprise when he turned around, laughing out loud. "What's the matter? Why are you laughing?"

"Because it… was funny."

"Of course not, it's not fun for you to get hurt."

"No… not hurt," As he said, he wasn't hurt at all. "Besides… laughing at yourself… is good."

"What? Why?"

"Because it relaxes things a lot," Jonathan said, coming closer to them. "Good flight, man, but you should practice the landing." Peep smiled and the Alaskan malamute turned to Flor. "Peep thinks that laughter is a good way to disappear any negative emotion, even if it involves laughing at oneself or at something silly."

"Because… laughter disappears problems… Besides, if a problem… has a solution… then worrying is… a waste of time. If there's no solution… worrying is… a waste of time. Better just… laugh a little."

Peep's smile ended up making an influence, and Flor began to smile, too. "So… if I do _this_ ," She pushed him back to the floor.

Peep laughed again for a few seconds before getting up. "I… will do _this!_ " And he did the same to Flor, and then ran off. "Now catch me… if you can!"

Flor stood up and started chasing Peep, both of them laughing as they scampered through the park. Jonathan stayed by the ball and made a serious expression. _I will do everything in my power to keep you out of this, my friend. I won't let anything happen to you._

Penny's P.O.V.

I was meditating in my room, I had been doing that a lot recently, I wasn't even leaving for food or water. I guess it's part of what Soul mentioned I could achieve. And speaking of the devil…

" _Hi, I hope I'm not interrupting."_

"Not really; I think I was able to foresee your arrival."

" _Really? That's cool. Unfortunately, what I'm here to tell you is not."_

"Oh, no. What happened, Soul?"

" _It… looks like we're not gonna be able to help you out of here as planned."_

"And why's that?"

" _It's… complicated, and long to explain."_

"I have plenty of time, Soul."

He let out a sigh, of those he makes when he's going to talk about something he doesn't like. _"Well, I was looking at the records among possible futures and I found one that's complicated. I can't tell you what happens in it, but if it happens, you could be here… until after New Year."_

"Why are you telling me this?" Those were things I didn't want to know.

 _"Because I don't want to give you false hope. I really hope that you understand why I'm doing this. However, there are endless possibilities…"_

"I don't want to know," I interrupted. "Just leave it,"

 _"Of course not. I'm going to tell you something I found out along with what I just told you. There's a way for you to override the program without external influence."_

"How…?"

 _"It's not gonna be easy, but you van overload the user interface of the program if, and only if, you release a lot of energy from your mind simultaneously. I can't help you in that area since you're the one connected to the program. If you manage to overload the program, you could wake up at will and get out of here. That last thing would be a little more complicated, but I could lend you a hand there."_

"But first I have to get out of the program. How can I release so much energy?"

 _"You're gonna need to store it first. Meditate as much as you can, and move as little. If you don't 'move', you won't spend energy and it'll get stored. You'll know when it's enough. When that happens, call me before you start."_

"Okay, I will"

 _"Then I won't take your time. I won't bother you until you're ready."_

"Wait, what?"

 _"Trust me, as much as I don't want to, I'll be a distraction for you. If I keep coming you won't be able to concentrate as much as if I don't. That's why I won't come until you're ready. Eleven days, I call."_

I was going to protest, but I figured there was a reason why he'd told me all of that.

"Okay. I'll let you know when I'm ready."

 _"See you then,"_

"Goodbye, Soul,"

* * *

Meanwhile, Mittens and Rhino had been, since the moment Bolt explained how he was recovering his memories, trying to spark some more. The three of them were in the park, experimenting with different situations that had happened before.

"All right. Bolt, are you still thinking about something?"

"Yes, Rhino,"

"Well, that's great, but then I don't understand why nothing is working. We tried the twig, play tag, bury bones…"

"Maybe we should hit more specific moments, buddy."

"I know! We need a train."

"A train?" Bolt echoed. "Why do we need a train for, Rhino?

"To jump to it, like the first time."

"We did what now?" Bolt turned to Mittens, asking her with a look.

"True, wags," She confirmed. "We told you, remember? Well, rather, you jumped on the train; Rhino was on your paws and I was on top of you."

Rhino nodded. "Totally. In fact, there's where she realized that you were working on a magic box show."

Bolt lowered his head in dismay. "I'm sorry, guys. Sorry for what I put you through and sorry for not remembering things that you told me without memories."

"Come on, Bolt, it's nothing. It was the best adventure of my life. And it's not your fault, we've told you a lot of things about a lot of issues, it would have been complicated for you to remember all of that."

"The rodent's right. Besides, if we hadn't gone through all of that, we wouldn't be here, dog."

That word rang in Bolt's head. "Wait… how did you just called me?"

She looked at him in confusion. "Dog… why?"

"Yeah, I just remembered something!" They both looked at him. "You were in the garden, and you had Rhino, inside his ball, in your paws. I was chasing you and–" Bolt groaned and touched his head. "I can't… remember more. But there's another one. You were on a tree and… I was on the floor. We were… tied to each other. That's all I remember." Bolt frowned and sighed. Then he looked at his two friends, from whom he couldn't remember anything. "Do you really think I can get my memories back like this?"

"Come on, Bolt, you're doing fine."

"But they're only images, Rhino; I can't remember what we were doing, or why."

"But at least you're remembering some things. And in any case, sooner or later the Pitbull will talk, and when he does we'll recover your memories and then sweep the shadows!" Rhino said making a heroic pose.

The last comment didn't please Bolt, since he already knew that shadows shouldn't necessarily die. But he didn't know if he could explain that to them or what would he say if they asked where his idea had come from, so he just nodded slightly and began to think again. However, the dog's bewilderment didn't go unnoticed. "You all right, wags?"

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Totally," Then Bolt remembered something. "Hey, guys? W-What time is it?"

"Well, I don't have a clock, but I suppose it's about mealtime, or at least I hope so, I'm getting hungry. I hope there's cereal in my dish today."

"Time to eat? Already? Oh, no." Bolt ran off back to Penny's, leaving both of his friends confused back in the park.

"Uh… what was that all about?"

"No idea, I guess we better go and find out."

And thus, both of them ran as fast as they could, following the steps of their canine friend. They didn't stop till they reached Penny's house, but there was nothing out of the ordinary there. In fact, there was nothing, nobody was there besides them. Bolt came out of the house through the pet door.

"What happened, Bolt?" The hamster asked as soon as he saw his friend.

The dog had a clear expression of shame on his face. "I'm sorry, guys. It was nothing."

"But 'nothing' of what?"

"Well, I…" The dog paused, as if looking for an excuse. "I had a premonition. I thought something might be happening here; guess I'll have to work harder on that." There was a silence of a few seconds before he kept talking. "But since we're here now, why don't we eat?"

"Sounds good to me," Rhino headed for the doorway, followed by Mittens. Bolt stood outside the door a few seconds after they both entered, paying attention to the surroundings carefully.

Once Bolt entered the house he went straight to the kitchen, where Mittens and Rhino were already eating. The dog joined them and they ate without talking. When they were done, Bolt told them he would be outsi"You'de.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm just going to think under the tree for a while," He answered and, without giving a chance for his friends to ask another question, he left the house.

"He's acting really strange,"

"He's not the same without his memories."

"And you still love him. Soon he'll recover them and everything'll go back to normal. Well, as normal as it gets." Rhino stood beside Mittens and placed a paw on one of hers. "You'll see."

The cat looked at his gesture and smiled a little. "Thanks, rodent."

"That's what friends are for."

Meanwhile, Bolt was already outside and under the tree. Half an hour passed, Mittens and Rhino left him his space and didn't go out, but eventually, three dogs came back from park with their persons. A little later a couple of wolves and a hawk appeared too. Slowly, the group began to gather, with the exception of an orange cat, of course. Bolt spent some minutes with them before excusing himself and leaving the place. Mega was the first one to let his curiosity win.

"Where's he going this time?"

"No idea; he always says he's going to think or walk." Byte told him.

"And is that true?" Mega asked.

"Do you doubt what he says?"

"Think about it, girl. Why does he always go alone?"

Mittens didn't hesitate to defend her beloved dog. "He wouldn't lie to us!"

"The cat's right; Bolt is not like that."

"Bolt was not like that," Mega retorted. "Without his memories a different personality from the one he had might be emerging."

"That's not true!"

"I really don't think that Bolt's personality is affected by this situation."

"Then think again, John. What makes up an entity's personality are the experiences that it has lived. If you don't remember those experiences, you can't expect that being to have the same personality."

"I… I'm waiting… somewhere else…" Peep mumbled.

"Wait, don't go," Alpha stopped him.

"Hey, we're getting nowhere with all this."

"Well, you've got an idea? Then talk, John."

"It's no relevant," Jonathan stated.

"Everything is relevant."

"Shut UP!" Helang ordered in a frequency that made everyone cover their ears. "I think Bolt knows he can talk to us about anything. He also has a right for privacy. When he decides to tell us, if he does, he will. Until then, let him be." And he flew off before anyone could answer.

Mega was, again, the first one to speak. "So who's in favor of spying on him?"

"Nobody. It's about time you start acting more mature. If Bolt finds us spying on him, what will he think of us? Probably that we don't trust him, or we think he needs supervision." Byte scolded him.

"Okay, okay," Mega lifted a paw. "I promise we won't go and spy on Bolt. Although–" He gave an insinuating look. "Don't tell me you're not curious at all."

Kass' P.O.V.

Sleep. That's what I told Bolt I would be doing, but reality was totally different from that. Even before all of this I barely slept; maybe I took three of four naps throughout the day, but that's it. I sat on the roof where I'd spent the day and saw the orange sky. It would be dusk soon. I always liked the color the sky takes when it's dusk. Huh, look who's here.

"What do you want?"

 _"Yeah, hi. I'm fine, thanks for asking, how are you?"_

"Leave that, just tell me why you came, Soul."

 _"It'll probably soon when you'll have to explain the gray concept to the group."_

"Yeah? Well, why don't you do it yourself? You are the master, you have their respect."

 _"I have to moderate the number of times I come to help. I won't be here forever, they must learn how to do it on their own."_

"Then why doesn't the hawk know about this? He's like your deputy; his words would have more acceptance than mine."

 _"Who said Helang doesn't know about this? I'm telling you that you're the one to expose the idea to the group in general, not that you're the only one who knows about this."_

"If you ask me, this is gonna go so, so wrong…"

 _"Wrong is a relative term. Also, there are some possible futures that come out 'worse' than this."_

Since arguing with him had done nothing, I just sighed. "Fine," I said through gritted teeth a few seconds later.

 _"Thanks, now–"_ Before Soul finished, I sensed something in Penny's house, and apparently he did too. _"Oh, no. I was really hoping this wouldn't happen."_

"I gotta run!"

I stood up as fast as I could and ran to the place. The first thing I met was an empty garden. I turned on my special vision and began to see inside the structures. It didn't look good at all. Everyone but Helang and Bolt where hiding in one place or another. What the hell? I sat on top of the girl's house, waiting for anything to happen. I heard the she-wolf mutter to her brother "I don't even know why we are doing this," at least seven times. Ten minutes later I sensed a presence of light and two shadows approaching. Oh, boy. I elevated my ear capacity and heard a little. Bolt was playing with the shadows. Why didn't I do anything? It would probably have been worse.

"You can't catch me, dog!"

"Wait, Bud," Bolt's voice was nervous. "You're going to close to the house."

"Yeah, that's the plan."

"No, Bud, they're all there. W-Where's James?"

I focused my eyes on the distance. There was Bolt, running besides a shadow which disappeared a moment after that. "Bud? Bud, where are you? It's not gun, we're getting into trouble here." Boy, you're right.

"Gotcha!" The shadow shouted with a discretion equal to zero as it jumped on Bolt.

The dog's expression didn't change at all. "Bud, you have to get out of here. James, too."

"Come on, it was a fair win."

"Bud, listen to me. You have to leave. Now."

"Yeah, right. Anyone in your position would say that. Any last words, Bolt?"

Wow. What a talent to say the least appropriate at the worst time. I know the wolves, so I'll say three, two, one…

* * *

A thump sound ran through the place. A moment after, Bud was no longer on top of Bolt. The dog immediately stood up to see what had happened. Mega was on top of Bud, who was now trembling. "You again?!"

The scandal caught the attention of everyone, who left their hiding places to see what was happening. For Bolt, it was overwhelming. What were they waiting for? He had warned Bud not to go near the house, but he didn't expect everyone to be there, hiding. Bolt looked at Mega again; James was behind him, with one claw lifted. Then the shadow gave a slash in the back of the wolf, electrocuting him and throwing him to the ground. "Run, Bud!"

The shadow obeyed the order of his companion and left its physical body. Mega got up in a few seconds and was now growling at James. The shadow waited for the wolf. When Mega tried to hit him, but James sink on the ground like a shadow and waited for the wolf to pass over where he was to materialize a leg and kick him from the ground directly to the stomach. The wolf yowled in pain and held the place with a paw. James recovered his body and began to back away without taking his eyes off Mega.

Since he wasn't looking, Byte had no problem on sneaking up from behind and ramming the shadow back into the floor. "Leave it!" Mega ordered. "it's mine."

The wolf approached James, who was still on the floor, slowly. When Mega was close enough, Byte simply let go of the shadow so that Mega could do his thing. The wolf snarled and showed his teeth; then he looked up and around. "Rule number one," He called. "Shadows can't submerge on the floor if they're in contact with an object that can hurt them, like my claws. That's why it hasn't fled yet." The wolf looked at James again. "Rule number two. A good bite into the neck will end its pathetic existence."

Me growled again and prepared to bite James. Being within inches of it, a yowl was heard.

"No!" Before anyone could say who had been, Bolt slapped Mega in his side at an incredible speed, sending him to the ground. He turned to see James, who was still not moving even though he was free. Bud appeared from the ground next to his companion and helped him to his feet. "Are you guys alright?"

Both shadows nodded slowly.

"What are you doing, Bolt? They're shadows."

"I know what they are," The shepherd said. "But they're my friends, too."

No one in the group believed what they heard.

Mega stood up with Byte's help. "Stand aside, Bolt. They're not your friends, we are."

Bolt didn't move, standing in between the wolves and the shadows. "No. They, too, can be, and are, my friends."

Of all them, Mittens was the most confused. "Bolt, why are you doing that?"

The whole group began to make a circle around the dog, not trying to enclose him, rather trying to get close and hear to his reasons.

"T-They are my friends, I met them a few days ago. He's Bud and the other one's James." He explained, pointing to each one.

"That's not true, shadows have no names. Save it and let us finish them."

Bolt stood his ground. "No, Mega. They're also living beings, and they have a right to live."

"W-What? That's absurd."

"When we met, you said that you were on the side of life, and you've repeated it, with or without memories. They are alive, they feel like us. We don't have to kill them, they can be gentle."

"Okay, Bolt, that's enough," Byte intervened. "We can't let them go, they could cause trouble."

"Not them. They're my friends and I trust both."

"You… trust us?"

"Of course I do, James! From the first day." Both shadows looked at each other.

"Bolt, I think that's enough. It's okay to be confused and…"

The glass spilled after receiving so many drops in such a short time. "No, John, I'm not confused! All we've seen so far is 'light's good, dark's evil. WE must kill every existing shadow and not leave a single one' and I'm fed up with it! We listened to your version of the facts and nobody argued about it! I believe there can be peaceful shadows! Is it so hard to imagine?" The dog, angry as he was, looked at everyone in the group. No one looked back. "I thought so. What a pity. I don't care what you believe, they're my friends. James, Bud, let's go." Bolt turned around and pushed his way out of the circle around him, both shadows following him, but before going too far he turned and spoke again. "And it hurts guys; it hurts to know that your friends don't trust you when you did nothing to deserve that." He stared at Rhino and Mittens particularly while saying that.

"That's it, I'll skin him." Mega started to follow his steps, but didn't even make it out of the circle, for he was hit in the head and fell down again.

"Of course not," It had been Kass, standing firmly in his way. "Leave him alone."

Mega got up, quite annoyed and exasperated. "Out of my way, Kass."

"Not today, wolf."

Mega growled. They were in the middle of the circle, as in combat practice. "You've never trainer combat with me, have you? You wanna try?"

"No," The cat said simply.

"I don't care. You've been taking days off, and now you'll have to face the consequences of that."

"Look, I have more important things to do." Kass turned around and took the same direction Bolt had taken a minute ago. "And by the way, it's not right to assume things."

"You filthy little piece of…" Mega ran to tackle Kass, but the cat turned around a few seconds before it happened and let out a powerful roar that stopped Mega dead, either by the impression or its power.

They all opened their eyes wide and looked at the orange cat.

"Enough! Helang, come here, please." The hawk showed up a few seconds later. "That's it. I'm gonna explain how this works, and you," He pointed to Helang. "Are gonna help me." Then he looked up at the sky. "You too, Soul, it's your babies I'm helping here!"

* * *

 **So yeah, things got pretty tense, huh? You'll see, you'll see. Anyway, thanks for reading and following and favoriting and everything. Special thanks to Basbon and his ever present reviews, and to ShadowScare. Thanks, guys. Anyway, guess that's all I have to say, nos vemos luego!**


	36. Speeches, apologies and memories

**Don't mind me, just a quick note: Long chapter ahead, at least twice the normal lenght for my chapters.**

* * *

Chapter 36: Speeches, apologies and memories

Bolt kept walking, staring down, for at least twenty minutes. Both shadows were following him, talking in between them, thinking of a way to help.

"Come on, dog," Bud said at last. "They asked for it."

"Besides, you helped us, and we've known each other for no more than a week. Thanks, that was cool."

Bolt stopped and looked at them. "Yeah, guys, but… I don't know, maybe I was too harsh on them. I-I didn't even explain myself before bursting into rage." He sighed, looked down and kept walking.

"Maybe, but in any case things are pretty tense right now. It would be better if we waited a while in… Uh, where are we going, Bolt?"

The dog stopped again. "I don't know, I'm following you."

"That doesn't make any sense, you're guiding us!"

"Well, then," Bolt thought for a moment where could they go. "I know where to go. Come on."

Mittens' P.O.V.

We had spent half an hour there, listening to Kass' talk about an intermediate point between light and darkness, that everything is relative, that there are 'good' shadows or 'bad' lights, but I wasn't paying attention. I was thinking about him. _How could I be such a fool? Why coulnd't I have trusted him, the way he's always trusted us?_ The way he looked at me before leaving, the words he said, it just rumbled in my head. It was totally my fault, I should've said no. For a few minutes I had to stop myself from crying. I wanted to go look for him, I wanted to make things right so bad… But I wasn't moving.

Besides Kass talking, the only other one doing anything was Mega. He shook his head at every phrase the cat said. Helang and Soul, who Kass had ordered to help him in the talk, weren't doing anything at all.

"The point is that not everything is black or white. There are a lot of grays in between them, and that's all I'm saying."

Then Helang finally said something. Two words to feedback half an hour of talking. "He's right."

Make was the first one to show opposite opinion. "What? You've gotta be kidding me."

"When was the last time I joked, Mega? His arguments are valid and the Master agrees."

"That's stupid."

" _No, it's not, because it's true,"_ Soul said. Everyone started paying attention. I was still thinking about Bolt.

"But, Master, you always said that only with the light…"

" _I know what I said, Mega. How can I explain? There's more than one valid point of view. The one I taught you is valid, and this one is, too. And both of them_ don't _collide with each other. Problem is that you're already deviating from what I taught you at the beginning. 'Principle number one: Killing is, and should always be, your last resource.' You saw me many times; I didn't kill if I didn't have to, and never if my opponent was unarmed. I always thought that we should only feed on positive energy, but now I see that it's also feasible to feed on negative, without going into an excess, of course. Kass' roar is a proof of how effective both energies can be in combination."_

"Then what should we…?"

 _"It's up to you. I don't care if you take the path I taught you or this new one. Both will bear their fruit with time. I didn't come here to tell you what to choose, but to remind you that we're not doing this to liquidate every existing shadow. Shadows can coexist in peace with lights. We only have to destroy the programming Kass explained that makes them soldiers. The planet guards the balance. If we kill every shadow we encounter, Mother Nature would eliminate us just to keep the balance going."_

 _You know the yin-yang symbol. We are in yin, that part mostly made of light, but with a little dark in it, that's not necessarily 'bad', that allows the balance to be kept. There will be other planets, other worlds that'll be in yang, mostly dark but with some light to keep the balance. Our job is not to destroy darkness but to make sure that beings like Centauri don't exploit it out of its natural state._

 _When the confrontation arrives, many shadows will prefer to die rather than be cleaned. If they were offered an opportunity and rejected it, they that shadow wasn't meant to live. What must happen, will. The shadows that accept to be cleaned are the ones that have to be cleaned. You wouldn't be able to clean them if they didn't want to, so yeah. Please, don't kill a shadow that accepted cleaning._

 _Kids, you're not soldiers, I don't want you to be soldiers. If you become soldiers, then you're no different from them. You have compassion, and that's what makes you better than them. If you lose it, you're letting them win. You have to speak to the shadows, yes, and you'll probably have to fight them first, yes, but when you have them against the floor, you'll give them an opportunity they wouldn't give you. That is the thing; compassion is the only thing that makes us different from them, and it works as a reference for which side is the 'right' one. If you don't show compassion, you're the same as them, and who can someone choose over two things that are the same? Please, don't lose that compassion, please."_

"Yes, Master," said two of them three. Mega went silent, his gaze on the floor. A few seconds later the nodded and said the same words.

 _"Well, thanks. That's all from me. See you later."_

There was a silence that lasted who knows how much. Everyone stayed there, not talking. Before long, I was seeing that scene in my head again; I had never seen him explode like that, not even when we met he was that angry. And all because of my stupid curiosity.

I kept thinking and rewinding that scene for a while. When I blinked out of my daydreaming, there was a paw moving up and down in front of me. "Mittens?"

"Huh?"

"Wow, you really looked lost. You've been like that for half an hour."

"For real?"

"Yes,"

I turned to see besides me, I hadn't even recognized the voice for being so deep into my thoughts. It was Delta who had 'woken me up'.

"And what happened in the meantime?"

"Between Kass' story and the support Helang and Soul showed him, everyone 'accepted ' that possibility, although some are not convinced. After Soul left, a debate began on whether or not we should let Bolt keep seeing those shadows. Kass and Flor are in favor, dad and aunt Byte are against. The rest of us argue occasionally, but those four have the entire spotlight for themselves."

I paid attention to what was happening around me and, as Delta had said, those four were arguing non-stop. They wouldn't even stop talking to listen to the others' arguments. I couldn't understand anything but yowls and gibberish, and that probably explained why nobody else was participating.

For a few minutes I listened to half-sentences as bits of arguments. When my patience was reaching its limit, someone finally stopped them.

"Shut up!" I turned around to see who had been. I was totally surprised, and I imagine everyone was, to see Peep standing. "Don't you realize? You're treating Bolt like a pup. He can decide what he wants to do with his life; just because he doesn't remember it doesn't mean that he's a puppy again and even if it had been like that, he's been working on it for a month now. I think he's able to solve his own problems. And if he can't, he'll learn something from it. Don't you remember the day at the park? Soul talked about butterflies. You can't solve everyone's problems for them, you're taking away their opportunity to learn something. And I think those shadows deserve and opportunity; they're not even fully grown and" He turned to Mega. "They were _pleeying_ with Bolt. Nothing you did was necessary." Peep walked towards Kass. "I'm going with Kass, and we're finding Bolt."

Kass turned and walked a couple steps in the direction Bolt had taken. "If anyone else wants to come, your chance is now," He called over his shoulder. Nobody moved, not even me and I can't explain why. "Alright. Come on, Peep."

Both of them walked away, leaving the rest of us in the most awkward silence I've been into. Jonathan broke it after a couple of eternal mintues with a sigh.

"He's right,"

"Yes, he is."

"I believe that, too."

Mega blinked and started over. "For real? Come on."

"Come on, nothing, dad. Your own master told you, and at least half of us agree with it. Yes, maybe he shouldn't be with the shadows, but for a reason he met them. Why is it so hard to open your mind a little to something new? You yourself use darkness as an element."

Mega lowered his head and sighed. "I don't know, Beta. I guess I spent my whole life following a single way to see the world. It's not easy to change the moment you find some other ways. I think I misinterpreted what the Master always said and now I have to correct it. But I still say he shouldn't be with the shadows, I don't trust them." Mega's kids stared at him until he added: "So I'll try not to be around when he's playing with them, and won't say anything about it."

"I suppose I can say the same, though I'm not as impulsive as someone and I could watch him play with the shadows, I doubt I could do it myself," Byte said.

"Hey, I'm not… well, a little."

"So we're alright now?" The rodent asked.

"Yeah, we are, Rhino," Helang told him on behalf of everyone.

"Great, now what? Bolt's out there with two shadows and only Kass and Peep are looking for him. I don't think he'll be happy to see that it's only two of us."

"You're right, but we can't do anything right now. It's getting dark and not all shadows are like those two. Maybe it would be best to apologize to Bolt next time we see him."

"Okay," Rhino conceded. "One more thing. Did anyone notice how Peep didn't stutter once while talking?"

"That's because he had determination," Jonathan said. "I thought of it as theory only, but I believed that once he had enough determination he would be able to talk fluently, without stuttering. I don't think it's permanent, though."

No one else said anything. The group disassembled and everyone went home. I went up to Penny's room and sat at the window; that way I would be able to see him when he came back. Rhino went straight to sleep after dinner. Jonathan and Flor went inside. Although I saw them somewhat worried, I figured they knew Peep would be alright. After all, he was with Kass, and with Bolt.

* * *

The cat and the dog had gone looking for Bolt, they were already moving along the houses.

"Where are we going… Kass?"

"To a place where I think Bolt might be."

"Is it far?"

"We're almost there. There it is." The cat began to run to the door of a ruined house.

"Why would… Bolt come here?"

"Because here's where I introduced him a couple of friends that support the 'gray' perspective."

Kass came in through the pet door with Peep right behind him. Just as the cat had imagined, there was Bolt, alone and with his eyes closed. Kass approached carefully, not wanting to wake him up; however, being a couple of feet from him, the dog talked.

"What are you doing here, Kass?"

"We came here to… show you our support."

The dog opened his eyes and laid them on the pair of newcomers. Frustration became evident in both his eyes and his tone. "Only you?"

"We're here to fetch you. The others, too, support you… though they may not know it yet. Just give them some time to process it."

"I don't think so," Bolt replied. "I'm staying here for a couple of days. Umbra and Lux agree."

"Bolt, for one or another reason, Umbra and Luz agree with _everything._ It's dangerous for your friends to see them."

"What, you don't trust them either?"

"I don't know them, if you give me the chance I would, but that's not the point. Soldier shadows, as part of their programming, must get rid of other shadows, natural ones, to 'make room for more soldiers'. If your friends see Umbra, they'll probably have an involuntary impulse and try to attack him. Same with Lux, but that's not really new."

Bolt considered the matter for a few minutes. "Okay. But I have to explain everyone…"

"No need to, I already did. Almost everyone accepted it; Mega and Byte were the most stubborn, but his master made them see that they'll have to accept some of us using this other path. Although I don't think they'll be eager to play with your new friends, they at least know why you did what you did and there are also some among us who support you."

Peep just smiled and gave Bolt a hug. "Thanks guys," The shepherd called as he pulled away from the embrace a couple seconds later. "Let's go home." They both nodded at him.

"By the way, Bolt," Kass said as they walked. "Where are your friends?"

"They had to return shortly after we got there. They didn't see Umbra or Lux."

"Great."

As they were walking with no haste at all, it took them a while to get back. Meanwhile, at Penny's house, Mittens was having a hard time.

The black she-cat had been lying on Bolt's bed after waiting for him for some time. Tired, she had gone to slept; however she hadn't been able to, not at ease anyway. She moved from side to side, her paws moved on their own, looking for a white, warm pelt to hold on to, but there was nothing and it was driving her crazy. She lifted her head. "Bolt?" She opened her eyes, it had been only a dream; Bolt wasn't there. A few feet from her, inside his ball, Rhino was sleeping peacefully.

Mittens shook her head and stretched. Then she climbed back into the window and looked at the full moon; round and grayish-white; very beautiful to see. After a few minutes of admiring it, Mittens looked down at the garden. For a surprise she found Bolt lying on it. Not stopping to think she ran downstairs and out of the house towards him; however, being a few feet from the dog she stopped. What was she gonna say? How could she fix what had happened, which had been, in great measure, her fault? She couldn't find an answer, so she slowly backed away from him, her heart aching. She didn't get far, though.

"Hi," Bolt said in a normal tone, not even turning to look at her.

"Hi… Hi, Bolt." She moved back to him. She realized that he had his eyes on the moon. "May I?" She asked doubtfully. Bolt fixed his gaze on Mittens and smiled slightly. She took that for an answer and lay next to him. "How did you…?"

"You scent, it's unmistakable." Bolt looked at the moon again. "And sweet," He said in a lower tone, not inaudible to her, though.

Mittens smiled a bit and looked at the moon too. However, she kept thinking about some way to amend what had happened. After a minute of thinking, she braced herself to speak. But Bolt also started to say something, and both said the same at the same time. "I'm sorry…"

The both looked into each other's eyes, but Bolt went on, not moving his gaze from her. "I'm sorry, Mittens, I shouldn't have acted like that. I exaggerated things and didn't even explain myself before leaving. Peep told me everything, it was none of your fault and I acted like an idiot. Sorry."

She was astonished. Bolt was apologizing when he had done nothing wrong. "No, Bolt, it's my fault. I didn't trust you as you trusted me; I let my dumb curiosity win and I acted like a fool. You were only defending your friends and nobody was listening, it's understandable that you would get tired of it. Peep said something, you're not a puppy, you can take care of yourself and you know how to. We shouldn't get ourselves into your private life. I really hope I didn't break your trust towards me. Please forgive me, I'm really sorry."

Bolt smiled, reached out and licked her cheek, leaving her flushed. Seconds later she did the same and rested her head on the dog's chest. They both stayed like that until Mittens yawned. "I think you should sleep."

She nodded without taking her head off him. A few seconds later she pulled away, moved a little backwards, and rested her head on Bolt's flank, where she eventually fell asleep. When Bolt realized as much, he moved carefully, trying not to wake her up. He placed her on his back and then carried the she-cat to the barn, and placed her on a pile of straw to then lie down beside her. As soon as she felt the dog besides her she huddled next to him. They slept there.

The both woke up late, Mittens before Bolt. She cuddled in between his paws, purring softly until he woke up too. "Good morning, wags." She kissed his cheek.

The dog smiled and answered the gesture. "Good morning, Mittens."

"Why are we here?" She asked, looking around. The question had been in her mind since she woke up there.

"Well, you fell asleep in the garden, and I thought we could spend the night here, so I brought you in."

They both stood up and started walking towards the door, but she paused for a moment, making him stop too. "Everything okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I was just thinking,"

"About what?"

"Well…" She paused for a moment. "It's… a surprise."

Bolt looked at her in confusion as she kept walking.

They got out of the barn. Mega received them outside, apparently it was about noon. "Well, good morning, you lovebirds. Did you need 'privacy' last night?" Mittens blushed at the wolf's comment; Bolt didn't understand it. "Well, placing comedy aside," The wolf continued. "I'm sorry, Bolt. I'm not good for apologies, but I'll tell you that… I won't intrude on that part of your life, if you want to keep playing with the shadows, that's fine."

"He's trying to say that you can count on us, no matter what you decide." Byte said as she approached them.

"Thanks. I, too, owe you an apology. I shouldn't have lost it."

"It's understandable, being in the situation you were. No grudges?" The wolf raised a paw.

Bolt mimicked him and shook his paw. "No."

So, one by one, everyone in the group apologized to Bolt. Beta was the next, and when she finished with that matter, she went straight to the forest to talk to the Pitbull. During the rest of the day everything continued as before, the group played for a while and trained for another; the shadows did not go to look for Bolt, he said, they had that day busy with work.

The rest of the week was routine. Bolt alternated one day to be with the group in general and another with the shadows; although he had tried to integrate them with those who followed Kass' ideals, neither was willing to interact with anyone in the group other than the shepherd. Beta was absent, talking to the Pitbull, although it was little what this said. Apparently, he had sworn he would not tell anyone else about the plan.

It was the eighteenth day, the sun was rising, and Mittens was preparing something.

Mittens' P.O.V.

 _It's today, today I'm going out with him. Nothing will stop me, I've planned everything._ I'm very excited, I've been wanting to do this with Bolt since he lost his memories. Although they always left us alone for some minutes to see if he would remember, it wasn't enough. Today we would be alone all day, until sunset. He and me, alone.

I could've fantasized about it all day, but a voice brought me back, a sweet, male voice that I was always happy to listen to. "Good morning, Mittens."

"Good morning, wags." I answered and then kiss him on the cheek. Even though he knew we were mates, I didn't feel it right to kiss him without his memories, so I always just kissed or licked his cheek, otherwise I felt like I was taking advantage of his innocence.

We both left Penny's room and went downstairs; Rhino was already there. Since we started training, he had almost stopped watching T.V., but still sometimes looked into that screen, like when we went downstairs for breakfast. "Good morning," He said from the couch.

We went to the kitchen for breakfast. Although I had everything ready, I was missing one thing. Him. "Bolt?"

He stopped eating and looked at me. "Yes?"

"Do you have any plans for today?"

"Uh… not that I know of, nothing out of the ordinary. Why?"

"Because I was thinking we could… go out. Just you and me."

"Sure," He said without thinking. Then he paused. "Wait, I don't remember. I don't know where we could go, or what could we do."

"I've got it all covered, wags, leave it to me." A little more than half an hour away, there was this place: A park, different from the other one, which had a pretty lake in its center. Even some fish lived in there, it was perfect for the occasion.

Bolt smiled at me, "Okay, you lead."

* * *

They both finished their breakfast and went out into the garden. There they met the majority of the group. Of course, Kass and Beta were missing; but Delta, Alpha, Peep and Flor were also nowhere to be seen. "Good morning, lovebirds." Mega greeted as soon as he saw them. "What's the plan for today?"

Before anyone answered, Rhino went out the door. "Guys, let me know when you're going out." The hamster paused beside them. "What are we going to do?"

Mittens answered for both. "Bolt and I are going out."

"Great. Have a good time." Then he started to walk to where the others were, but paused for a moment and turned around. "Listen, it's not that I'm paranoid, but you know how to call us, don't you?"

Mittens nodded and Mega returned to what he was going to do. Rhino followed him. "We going?" Bolt asked when they had their space.

"Sure," Mittens began to lead Bolt to that place which he had planned for that day.

Shortly after they left, Delta and Alpha arrived with the rest. "Hello." They greeted. Then Alfa looked at all of them. "Where's Peep?"

"He and Flor went to the park," Jonathan replied matter-of-factly.

"What!?"

 _This is going to turn into a bloodshed scene._ Delta thought, a thought that transmitted to the rest with a look, to which each one nodded slightly so that Alpha wouldn't notice it.

In the park they were both playing with each other. Peep always had a good time playing, but Flor was particularly enjoying the company of the half-bred.

"You… are it!" Peep touched Flor's side and sprinted into some bushes to hide.

"Come here!" Flor approached the bushes to start searching; However, Pepe jumped out of his hiding spot and fell on Flor, and they began to roll until she ended up on top of him "And why was that?"

"Because I thought ... it would be fun." He laughed. After stopping, she realized that Flor wasn't taking her eyes off him and she was not moving. "Do I have ... anything?" He asked innocently.

Flor shook her head and got off Peep. "It's nothing. "

The dog got up, already tired, and walked to where she was. "I'm… tired."

Flor looked at him tenderly and began to walk towards the part of the park where everyone had gathered the day that told their pasts, that part that looked like a small forest inside the place. Peep followed without knowing why. When they arrived he leaned back where there was tall grass, she waited for him and then leaned next to him and placed her head on Peep's shoulder; he ended up leaning his head over Flor's and both closed their eyes in that position.

The day went on, about three in the afternoon Beta was running to where the Pitbull was.

Beta's P.O.V.

I could clearly hear my father's words over and over in my mind. _Make him go to where the memories are._ _Nothing else matters, make him go._ It made no sense, but I have never contradicted him in a matter like this, I wasn't gonna start now.

I ran to the camp, pretending to be agitated; I did not stop until I was a mere couple feet away from him. "I got communication from the base; you need to get out of here!"

As I imagined, the guy was totally confused. "What? Why?"

"There was a change of plans, you have to return to the memories _now_!"

"But what…?"

"You trust me." Then I cut the bonds of his paws and those of the tree. "Now run. Run!" The Pitbull looked at me once more before running away.

I waited until I lost sight of him to speak. "It's done, Dad."

 _"Very well, Beta;_ _now come back here."_

"Sure,"

Meanwhile, in the barn.

"You did what!? Mega!" Byte was scolding him.

"Can you calm down, girl? Let me explain you how it works."

"It doesn't, because releasing a prisoner is simply no way to get information…"

"Unless I've implanted a tracker and I know exactly where he's going."

Both Byte and Helang were confused by that response. "What?"

Mega let out a sigh. "The day I 'mistreated' the guy, I was just putting my plan in motion. When I had my paw against his neck I released some active energy, which I knew we could track. Then I gave him a scratch just to distract his attention from what he had done previously."

"Then you told Beta to try to find the location of the memories, and since it did not work, you told her to tell the Pitbull that they needed him where the memories are to guide us to them."

"Exactly, Helang," he finished saying proudly.

"Why didn't you tell us anything?"

"Because you wouldn't have listened to me. Are we going to discuss that or are we going to go through Bolt's memories? "

"Let's move."

From the barn three figures emerged at full speed, one flying and two running.

* * *

The Pitbull rushed into the 2F warehouse. "I'm here!"

All the shadows were surprised to see him. "What are you doing here?"

"I got your message, what's going on?"

"What's going on is that you're here when you should be there, waiting four days to tell the fools where this place is."

"What about the change of plans?"

"There hasn't been any change of plans, buddy." Shade interjected, still working.

"No, but… the legendary shadow... Beta, she told me that..."

"Oh, you're such an idiot, Beta and Flor are on their side! They set you up!" The elite shadow looked at James. "Quick, call the pea brain and you two leave those memories and hide! We are about to have…"

A howl was heard outside the store, and then the doors fell to the floor. Two wolves came running through them, and they began to attack every shadow that was placed on their way. "Heeere's Johny!"

"Leave the jokes for later!"

"Check this, girl. Dark curtain!" Mega opened his snout and from this a great mass of darkness began to come out, making it difficult for everyone to see in the place, leaving everything barely visible. "Your move, Helang!"

There was no response from the hawk, only a flutter that lasted for a few seconds. "Got 'em, let's get out of here!"

By the time the dark curtain was lifted there was no trace of any of them three, or memories. The mentor of the four arrived a minute later. "What the hell happened here?!"

"Trap…" The elite shadow responded from the floor.

"Ah." The shadow looked at Shade and Alex, who were coming out of their hiding places. "How much and what were the memories missing to be complete?"

"Almost nothing, we couldn't finish blocking them…"

"But it was almost complete; it would take them a million tries to get it right."

"Well, we'll have to speed up the plans. Alert the recovery squad."

All the shadows began to do their thing; Bud and James took advantage of the confusion and left the place.

* * *

It was about five-thirty in the afternoon, the sky was already orange and the sun would soon set. Bolt and Mittens lay side by side near the lake. She had her head on his chest, purring. Both had played for a while, Mittens had brought some food and had hidden it in a tree a day before so that both could eat something. During the afternoon they had talked, and Bolt had managed to remember something more after receiving another kiss from Mittens.

"Another one," he said. Then he closed his eyes for a moment and began to think. "Did we become mates in an alley?"

"Yes again, wags."

"And I ... did I kiss you there?"

"That's how it went."

"I don't think I remember… no, there's something else; but it's from another day. It was night and we were home. You had... nightmares, you were not sleeping well." Mittens nodded without leaving Bolt's chest. "And I helped you?"

"Yes. Wow, you remembered a lot today."

"All related to you, but I still lack some more. The farthest thing I remember is... when we played in the garden and I already felt something for you. Shortly after the day of the photo, I suppose."

Mittens said nothing more for a few minutes. "It's enough, wags, it's more than enough."

They were both silent for a while longer. She broke it again, remarkably excited. "Bolt!"

"What's going on?"

The cat pulled away from the can and sprang up. "Come, we have to go home!"

"Return? I thought you wanted to watch the sunset."

"Yes, but this is more important. Come on let's go."

"What happened at home?"

"It's a surprise." Then she started running toward the house. Bolt got up and followed her. When they were close she stopped. "Close your eyes." Bolt didn't hesitate for a second and closed his eyes. "Now follow my voice." Mittens guided the dog to the garden. "Stop there, wags."

"What is this, Mittens?" No answer. "Mittens?" The dog opened his eyes to find the entire group. Mittens was in their midst, her backa towards him. "What's up?"

Mega Byte and Helang left the group with smiles all three. "What's up is that we have a gift for you."

"What?" Mittens turned, she had a white orb in her paws. "Is that…?"

"They're your memories, Bolt." She said with a smile.

The dog was excited by the news. "When, how ...?"

"About half an hour ago. Now come on, time to remember."

"How do we do that?"

" _Simple; you have to let Bolt hold the orb in his paws. Then you have to take a deep breath and relax. It'll probably hurt while the memories are getting back. At the end of the process there will be no orb and you'll remember everything."_

"Let's do it."

Mittens approached Bolt with the orb in her paw. "Are you ready?"

"More than ever," They hugged and she gave him the orb. Bolt closed his eyes being in the middle of the circle.

"Wait!" It was heard in the distance. Soul's kids and Jonathan turned to look, to find Bud and James.

"I'll handle them," The Alaskan malamute said, and walked over to them. "Hey, guys, you can't be here."

"No, you're not understanding. Bolt's memories…"

"Yes, we've got them, and he's receiving them now."

"No, you must stop it!"

"Look, it's nothing personal but I don't trust you."

"And I don't blame you, but we are not like them; You must stop the memories from getting into his mind… Oh, no. Bud, we've gotta go!"

Both shadows left the place at full speed. Jonathan returned to the place where the group was. "What did they want?" Mega asked.

"They said some nonsense. Something about not letting Bolt recover his memories."

"Why would they say something like that?"

"No clue. How's it coming?"

"He's halfway done."

"Then why that face?"

"Something's wrong."

Bolt continued to absorb the memories from the orb for a few minutes; everyone in the group, except for the four who had seen the shadows, was waiting for him to finish anxiously. Mittens could not wipe a smile off her face. When he finished, he opened his eyes breathing agitatedly.

"Wha… I can't believe it… You… You lied to me?"

"What?"

"You lied to me," The shepherd repeated in a tone that confused everyone.

Mittens, of them all, was the most confused. "Soul, what's wrong?"

" _Give me a moment._ "

"All of you lied to me, how I was so stupid as to believe you?" Bolt grunted. "Hey, get out of my head!"

" _Damnit, I really wish it wasn't like this. Guys, they altered his memories."_

"What?!"

" _Not only that; now he remembers that you were trying to stop him from coming back to Penny, that you seduced him when you saw that you had failed and ... basically, they turned you into the evil mind behind everything that has gone wrong in Bolt's life. And, apparently, you manipulated them to help you in one way or another. What else is around here? Oh, well ..._ "

"Get out of my head, now!"

" _Hey! They also taught him to block me, apparently."_

"How could we be so stupid? That's why the Pitbull was waiting for a date to talk."

"All of you; nothing that told me was true" The dog had an angry expression on his face, but also a couple of tears on his eyes.

"We must stop him from doing something reckless till figure out how to reverse this"

"Leave it to me, Helang," Mega Bolt approached carefully. "Bolt, look; all of what you remembered it's not…"

"Real? Yeah, sure, it wasn't real when I lost my memories and now that I recover them it's not either"

"No, buddy, you're not…"

"Of course I do, I finally understand _everything_!" Bolt saw that the wolf was approaching him. "Stay away from me!"

"Bolt, what does your heart tell you?"

"Everything tells me that you lied!" Bolt closed his eyes for a moment. "And now I remember this, too." He immediately howled.

"What's that for?"

"We've got trouble, guys."

A group of shadows appeared from the ground near the circle. "We received the signal, over. Operation beginning!"

The shadows began to approach the group at fast pace. "John, Kass, up front with us!" Both of them and the three wild animals charged towards the shadows.

"We can help…" Beta started.

"No, Beta, take care of Bolt!" Her father instructed.

A battle began between the group of shadows and the animals. Unlike the last time, things were fairly equal. Both sides gave and received bites, blows and scratches.

"Hey, Bolt," Someone whispered near the dog. "Down here."

"Shade, I'm so glad to see you," Since most of them wanted to participate on the battle, or were paying too much attention to it, nobody noticed the dog whispering to the shadow on the ground.

"Listen to me. Beyond the battle, in the same direction, there is a squad ready to escort you back to the base. Unfortunately, we failed to distract everyone, so you have to outrun them."

He dog nodded. "Leave it to me. See you there." The shadow nodded and slipped away from the site, while Bolt began to think.

"How's the thing, Beta?" Delta asked his sister, trying to make conversation.

"It's even; although they are stronger, there are more shadows."

"And how…? Bolt!"

The dog jumped over the crowd and started running towards where Shade had told him to. "He's running away!"

" _Chase him, don't let him go away!"_

All who were not at the battle began chasing the dog. "We will, Helang!"

They all were giving their best, but Bolt's speed was superior to them all. "Rodent, can you throw one of your spheres at him?" Mittens asked, panting.

"Give me a second," From where he was, on Mittens' back, Rhino began loading his shot. A few seconds later he had the first one ready. "Okay, I need you to get close to him."

"I'll take another direction. We can cut his escape routes." Delta said as he detoured.

"Good thinking, brother." Alpha did the same, in another direction.

Among the entire group began to divide to try to surround the dog. Mittens tried to get closer to him, the closest she could.

Below ground where Bolt was running Shade appeared. "Bolt, they are about to throw a shot of energy at you."

"Where?"

"Move left!" The dog obeyed and barely evaded Rhino's shot.

"I missed!"

"Try again, Rhino!"

"I need a moment!"

"We're losing him, Delta!"

"You've almost made it, Bolt. We're close. There!" In the distance, a group of two tigers, a bear and at least five wolverines became visible. Bolt sped up to leave behind his pursuers and reach the awaiting group. "Mission accomplished! Let's get out of here, gentlemen!"

Mittens was the first one to be close enough to talk to Bolt. "Bolt, don't!"

"I don't know why I ever listened to you," He replied coldly. The tigers moved towards her, but he stopped them. "No, she's not even worth that."

"We need transport!" A shadow called.

" _Received; transport starting sequence in three... two... one..."_

By the time the others got to Mittens, there was no one else but her and Rhino in the place.

"We lost him," Alpha sighed in defeat.

" _Guys, the shadows are retiring. Something happened?_ " Helang asked.

"We lost Bolt. That happened."

After hearing that for a second time, Mittens couldn't help but burst into tears.

* * *

 **And yes, here's where I'm cutting it, and you'll have to wait for a week to know what happens. Enjoy the cliffhanger! Just kidding, I mean, it's not like a month or anything, but yeah. Anyway, thanks to everyone for reading, following and everything. Special thanks to Basbon and ShadowScare, I really apreciate it, guys. I guess that's all I have to say right now, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	37. What now?

Chapter 37: What now?

Late in the night, inside the barn, there was a meeting in course to discuss what should happen from there, seeing that the group had lost Bolt and Penny. Mittens was no longer crying openly, but tears still rolled down her eyes, wetting her cheeks, one after another. Rhino was sitting next to her, trying to do anything to comfort his feline friend. Neither was paying much attention to the discussion.

"We have to start analyzing this; we can't commit another imprudence of that size. It was my fault, I shouldn't have tried to speed things up."

"Yes, but no, Mega. There's something fishy there. If the memories were already modified, then why hadn't the Pitbull talk? It's obvious they wanted to manipulate Bolt, but I can't see why he was still waiting to talk."

"Maybe something was missing."

"I saw him quite angry; I think they're modified as much as the shadows wanted."

"We can't know if we don't have him here to ask him what he remembers."

"And why do they want Bolt for?"

"They probably still think he's the pillar."

"Is he not?"

"We don't know. Whenever we ask Master he'll say the pillar is in one of them three. If it's not Bolt, it's Mittens or Rhino, but that doesn't mean he's not capable. He was the one who progressed most with memories and he almost reached that same point without them in a very short lapse of time. Wherever he is or not the pillar, he's skilled and the shadows will want to take advantage of that."

"Well, we know what they're gonna do. But are _we_ gonna do?"

No idea emerged, so the meeting came to an end and everyone went home. Peep stayed at the end to talk to Mittens. "You okay?"

Her voice was broken, she could hardly even speak. "No… we lost him… and… and it was my fault."

"But it wasn't–"

"Yes it was!" The she-cat raised her voice as tears began to come out faster. "If I weren't so useless they wouldn't have taken Bolt's memories away. And if they hadn't… they wouldn't have changed them… and he… he would be here… with me…" She couldn't say anymore and began crying again.

Not a second passed when Mittens was embraced by a couple of paws. "Don't… get stuck there. Why don't you… try and… fix it?"

"How?" She asked, her voice trembling.

"That was… what I was going to ask."

She smiled softly and sadly without letting go of the hug. "He once did that same to me. In the park, the day we all met."

"Go on,"

"I… I felt almost like now… but he, he reminded me of everything I meant for him, and how important I was for him." She began to sob. "But now he's gone, and I'm nobody to him anymore, he doesn't love me."

"Do you really believe that? Cause if… you do, we're lost."

Mittens separated from Peep, with tears in her eyes. "What?"

"You are… his mate… his best friend, and I could even say… his savior. If you don't believe we can… it's because we can't. He said what he said, because… his memories were moved. You just have to… straighten them out."

"But how?"

"Dunno. But surrendering… won't help."

Peep then turned and left the barn.

Mittens got into thinking. After some minutes, she wiped away her tears and entered the house. She dinned in silence and went to Penny's room. As she saw Bolt's bed her eyes got wet again, but she didn't stop. She lay down on his bed and closed her eyes. Much like last time, she couldn't fall asleep; she felt something missing. But she wasn't the only one. In the building something similar was happening to the dog.

Bolt's P.O.V.

 _This is totally strange._ _As soon as we arrived, they all greeted me as if I were a war hero;_ _I don't remember doing anything important to get them that way._ _Moreover, when they congratulated me on having survived so long between "them", I could not identify them by their names;_ _With the exception of Shade, James and Bud, who introduced me to another friend of theirs, Alex._ _There are several things I would like to know and I could not remember, but they are already explaining those to me._

 _It turns out that the pair of wolves took my memories working for… her, and they tried to alter them._ _Then the shadows intercepted them and kept them in their care as they made sure they had not done anything to them._ _Although I do not understand why they gave it back to me ... I guess I'll ask later._

I could've spent all night thinking but a voice woke me up. "Well, dwarves… and Bolt, go on and hit the sack." That shadow seemed to be the strongest of here, but his tone was so… arrogant? Conceited? I'm not sure what the exact word is.

"What did he mean, Shade?"

"That it's time to sleep," He told me.

"Oh… I though you didn't sleep,"

"It's not very common. Adults only do it for pleasure, but we still have to sleep regularly, once per week at least."

"And how do you sleep?"

"Okay, look, we need a unicorn horn first. We put it in ammonia and then we draw a circle on the ground and throw the horn into it; how do you think we sleep, Bolt? We lie somewhere and close our eyes, we're not phenomena."

"Sorry,"

"Nah, doesn't matter. Surely there're other things you don't remember," Shade walked to the room's door. "You coming?"

I stood up and followed him down some alleys and stairs into a room with some unmade beds arranged along the length of it. "You sleep here," I guessed. Shade just nodded. "And I'm gonna sleep with you?"

"That's right, Bolt." A voice from the door called. It was the mentor. Wasting no time, I made a small bow like always. "Rise," He told me and I looked up again. "Yes, you'll sleep with them, if it's not a problem."

"Not at all," I said quickly. I haven't meant to say it like that.

The mentor nodded and then left.

Within minutes, the other three young shadows were in their beds and we were all ready to sleep. "Good night."

"What did you just said?"

"G-Good night, was it wrong?"

I couldn't see them because of the little light that got into the room, but it seemed as if they were confused by my comment. They didn't even answer for a while. "No, it's just that… since you've been away for so long, we'd forgotten about this 'good night' thing."

"Oh."

"So… good night, Bolt," Shade said.

"Good night, dog."

"Good night, guys."

"Yeah, whatever."

I noticed… doubt? In their 'good night'; it sounded like something they had never said before. I closed my eyes after the last comment, but I couldn't bring myself to sleep. Like possessed, my paws began to move, searching for something. _No, someone. They're looking for her. No, no, no, definitely not. I just have to forget about her sleeping in my arms. Her fur brushing against mine… it did feel nice sleeping with her, it's a shame that she's so… evil._ I felt a pain in my chest as I thought of that word. _Just forget about it, it'll pass._

* * *

Dawn came, and both dog and cat didn't wake up in time; neither of them had slept well at all.

"Move, Bolt!"

The dog ran out of the room. Shade was waiting for him outside. "Well, about time. If we're a little later, we won't find breakfast. Follow me." The shadow began to move quickly, with the dog behind it. A few minutes later they were entering some sort of dining room.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to honor us with their presences," The elite shadow was tapping fingers on a table. "Move," It pointed to another table, were the other three young shadows where sitting and eating.

"Hey, what a treat," Shade said as he approached a portion of some sort of dough with dark tones. As Bolt hadn't yet sat on the table, he whispered to the rest, "Is he gonna eat this too?"

"It's the only eatable thing from here," Bud answered. "Besides, what's wrong with it?"

"What's wrong with what?" The dog asked, sitting at the table. Then he looked at his portion of food. "What's that?"

"Your… food," Shade hesitated. "Since you… were away for so long, your other food got spoiled, and we had to throw it away. But don't worry, we'll have more by lunchtime." Then he looked at James.

"What are you looking at?"

"You go get food for Bolt."

"Oh, really? And why me?"

"Cause you're done eating. Go on, take Bud if you like, but go now."

Both shadows looked at each other, then rose from the table and left the place, not without having James grimace Shade.

Bolt stared at his food for a moment. "Well, it's just breakfast."

"Trust me, it's not that bad."

"Do you know what it is?"

"No," Alex grumbled with his mouth full. "But it must be some sort of… negative energy or something. Are you gonna eat that?"

Shade began to eat after Alex asked, but Bolt stood still, waiting for them to finish.

"Uh, I'll catch up with you in a minute or two." He told the shadows.

Shade and Alex looked at each other, but said nothing as they left. Now alone, Bolt stared at his food: a piece of dark mass. He touched it carefully with a paw, as if he feared that it would jump from the plate and eat him. It was viscous and gelatinous. It didn't smell in any particular way. "Well, it's better than nothing," He muttered aloud and gave the mass a bite. It didn't taste like dog food or meat, but it wasn't so unpleasant. Up to some point, it was tolerable.

While Bolt was eating, Alex and Shade were arguing quietly outside the dining room.

"Why the hell is he still so kind?"

"Uh… because that's how he is?"

"You didn't modify that?!"

"Well, you didn't tell me to,"

Shade suddenly raised his voice. "Yes, I…!"

"Shush, not so high,"

"Yes, I did," Shade repeated in a lower voice. "He was supposed to be more aggressive."

"We haven't seen him in combat, maybe he is."

Shade snorted. "And what about all the holes you left?"

"Which ones?"

"Every one of them! He keeps asking about the building, about what do we do or don't, and why or how. It's like the only thing that changed is that he supports us and not them."

"Well, I'm _sorry_ I'm not good enough for you. If you're so good at this, you should've done it yourself!"

"I did _my_ part. Moreover, I have a solution. When he asks us why he can't remember a lot of things, we redirect the guilt to the black cat and the wolves…"

"We can tell him they erased some of the memories and we couldn't bring them back; that'll seal all the holes that, according to you, are my fault."

"Yeah, though, we'll have to show him the building like if he were a newcomer."

"Uh… that's what he is, Shade."

"But he doesn't _know_ that, you fool,"

"Fine, fine… Hey, can we continue to work on the memories? Y'know, finish blocking them."

"No. If they're already coupled to his mind, finishing the job is impossible, at least for us. Let's leave them like that, I don't think anything will happen soon enough to reverse them. In the meantime, we've gotta make sure we have him under control."

"Have who under control?" Bolt's voice sounded behind them.

Both shadows let out a choked cry. "Bolt! Don't do that!"

"Sorry."

"You done eating?" Bolt nodded. "Okay, let's go."

"Go where?"

"To ask what we'll do today." Both shadows began to move, the dog behind them.

Meanwhile, Bud and James where moving through the city looking for something the shepherd could eat.

"What kind of food does he like?" The first one asked.

"For the fourth time, I don't know. We're looking for dog food of any kind or a butcher shop."

"Fine, but it would be easier if we knew that he's gonna like what we're bringing him."

"And how could we do that?"

"Maybe in…" Bud thought for a minute. "His house!"

"That's… not such a bad idea, Bud. Let's go, but be careful, we don't want any more trouble." Bud nodded and both shadows began to move towards Penny's house.

There, Mittens was waking up, her cheeks still wet, and apparently far from being dry again. Rhino was in the T.V., and Mega was with him, though he had only gone inside after checking twelve times if Penny's mom was home.

Both shadows sink into the ground and then went in under the front door, sliding towards the kitchen. They heard that, despite being in front of the T.V., Mega and Rhino were discussing a possible way to save Bolt.

When they reached the kitchen, they emerged from the ground and began to search for the dog food, their voices as low as they could.

"Which one is it?"

"Bud, don't be silly. There are only two options and one has a cat printed on it. What do you think?" Bud shrugged. "Aah! You really know how to test one's patience. That one." James pointed to the bigger, half-empty sack of animal food. "Now grab it while I open the window so we can get outta here."

The shadows began to do their movements, making some more noise than expected.

"Wait a… pause it, Rhino," Mega told his companion. "There's someone in the kitchen."

"I'll check," The hamster jumped from the couch.

"Hurry up, Bud."

"If you helped me, it would be faster."

James turned to his companion. "Yes, but I'm keeping watch–"

"Watch for what?" A smaller voice interrupted.

Both shadows jumped at Rhino's call. "–So that no one comes…"

"Wow, you suck at this, James."

"Shut up, Bud!"

"Mega, it's the shadows." Within seconds the wolf was in the kitchen too.

"What are you doing here?" Then he saw what Bud was carrying. "What do you want that for?"

"For…"

"For Bolt."

"Bud!"

"For Bolt?" Both hamster and wolf echoed.

"I don't care if you believe us, Bolt is our friend. And we _did_ try to warn you, but since you were as flexible as our own kin…"

"Okay, okay," Mega interrupted. "I get it, I'm sorry. It's not easy, okay? Go on, finish your story."

"We just want him to have a good time, even though he's against all his friends and he believes his girlfriend is the Earth's greatest evil mind." Bud felt silent. "Well… that did sound better in my head."

"And if you want to help him, why don't you reverse his memories to normal so he can see what's really going on?" Rhino questioned.

"It's not that easy, hamster. Neither Bud nor I worked with those memories; we have no idea of how to change them. But I'll tell you something," He leaned closer to them. "He is still the same. I don't know if our comrades screwed up or what happened, but the only apparent thing that changed was his side. He's still friendly and nice. I doubt he'll last for long like this, though our friends may find a way to keep him controlled… but that's your part to solve."

"If you want we can come every two or three days to tell you what's happening and…"

"Bud!"

"I actually like that idea, but I still don't understand why would you ever help us. You're meant to be soldiers, and have no other purpose that destroying the light."

"Who knows?" James shrugged. "Maybe we're… 'defective' or something. I can even tell you where the girl and the dog are."

"Well, I'm listening."

"Sure, it's a–" James grunted. "A… bui… buil… Ugh!" The shadow grabbed its head with both hands and fell to the ground, closing his eyes with a painful expression.

"James, buddy!" Bud dropped the dog food and ran to his companion. "Come on, think, think, think…" Bud said to himself as James squirmed on the floor. "Got it!" The shadow made a small violet orb and placed it on James' chest.

The shadow slowly began to relax his expression until he eventually opened his eyes again. "Uh… well, I guess I can't tell you where they are, but we can tell you some things."

"So, apparently you do have the soldier programming. It seems incomplete, though, for some reason."

"Wow, that was close, James."

"I'm fine,"

"You sure?" Rhino asked.

"Yeah," The shadow stumbled while getting up. "Well, we've gotta go. I guess we'll see each other in a couple days."

"Don't think wrong if we don't come; sometimes out superiors are… firm, with how can we use our spare time. And we're not on your side… ew, no, we are trying to help a friend, and that's it."

"As you say,"

Both shadows got out of the kitchen through the window, carrying Bolt's food in between them. Rhino and Mega stayed where they were.

Mittens' P.O.V.

I'm tired, I didn't sleep well. All night long I was watching over and over again that moment, in which Bolt arrived with his "rescuers" to disappear without being able to do anything. I stretched, my cheeks still wet. I know that Peep said I had to find a way, but his absence is impossible to ignore, and being constantly reminded that all this started because of me doesn't help. _But I'm going to remedy it, and I will not be the cause of anything happening to my puppy again._

With that in mind I left Penny's room and headed for the stairs. I imagined that the group would still think of some way to rescue Bolt; more importantly, a way of correcting his memories. Such was my surprise to get downstairs and find Rhino and Mega in front of the TV, watching a movie. They were not even looking at it completely; the rodent was repeating a scene over and over again.

"Once more, Rhino," Mega requested as if he were a puppy. The rodent rewinded the film and let it run. Then they began to speak the dialogues making voices and expressions as if they were living it. Mega made a deep voice. "Obi-wan never told you what happened to your father?"

Rhino did an imitation of what he would call 'a heroic voice.' "He told me enough. He told me you killed him."

"No. I am your father."

"No, no… that's not true. That's impossible!"

"Search your feelings; you know it's the truth."

The rodent put a face of what seemed to me between anguish and constipation. Then he looked up. "NOOOOOO!" Then, he recovered his usual face and paused the film again. "How was it?"

"Great; again?"

"What are you doing?"

They turned to see me; I'm not sure what, but there was something different about them. "Good morning, cat."

"Hi, Mittens, we were watching a movie."

I didn't know how to react; they were too calm considering that the night before they had been thinking like crazy for some way to rescue Bolt. Maybe they had found one. I didn't want to get too excited, but why else would they be so tranquil? Curiosity was taking over, but before I asked I went to the kitchen for breakfast. I arrived and the first thing I saw was that the sack with food for Bolt was not there.

"Eh ... Guys?"

"What's wrong?" Mega asked me from the living room.

"Where's Bolt's food?"

"They took–"

"First finish your breakfast. We have something important to tell you."

That just confused me even more. I didn't break my head on it and I ate, trying to guess about what explanation there might be for all that; their attitude, the food, the "surprise" that awaited me when I finished breakfast...

I finished shortly and went straight to the living room to ask, but neither was there. _Is it a joke?_ "Rhino?" Mega? "There was no answer. _Maybe outside._ I went out the pet door, I really didn't care to use that door, but Bolt loved it, I do not know why.

As I thought, outside they were all, they seemed to be waiting for me to start. As soon as Mega and Rhino saw me, the small one on the bigger one's back, they began to walk towards the barn. The others followed; it seemed that only the two of them knew what was happening.

We entered the barn and formed the circle again; when everyone was ready Mega spoke. "You probably wonder why we have gathered you here."

"To continue with what we could not solve last night?"

"No, but you came near, girl. Some hours ago, when Rhino and I were watching a movie, we heard a noise in the kitchen and went to see what it was."

"What we found was nothing more and nothing less than... two shadows carrying Bolt's food." I could not describe in words the scandal that arose as soon as that sentence ended. Everyone started to think at the same time, to argue about the shadows, and so on. I stood there saying nothing; the mere mention of the shadows made me think of him, and thinking about him made me want to cry again.

"Shut up!" The rodent shouted after a minute. "They were the pair of shadows Bolt defended a week ago; apparently they do consider him as a friend."

"We can't be sure of that."

"It is a trap."

"Shut it!" This time it was Mega. "If I, who was the main opponent of this at first, I think the shadows are really trying to help Bolt, it's likely to be true, right?"

"We can't be sure of their intentions; they are still shadows. And soldiers, as Kass said."

"That's true; we'll tell you everything so that you can see more or less why we believe they are, not on our side, but trying to help Bolt."

They all stopped talking and paid attention. I could not stop thinking about him, but I did the same as the others and started listening to the pair of immature. _That's why they get along so well, immature... but also noble._ I smiled at that thought and paid attention to what they were saying.

* * *

"So we have the day off?" Shade asked, quite surprised.

"Yes. At least for today; yesterday we had a great achievement." The mentor of the young shadows looked at Bolt. "You deserve a break after all the work you did."

"Thank you, sir," they all said. Bud and James still had the sack next to them.

"Now go and... do something; But you better be back by the time you're normally sent to sleep."

"Yes, sir," said the four at the same time; Bolt bowed slightly and then the five ran off.

"What do we do?" The dog asked excitedly.

"Rest," Alex answered without hesitation.

"Maybe train for a while."

"Come on guys, do not be bitter. Let's play."

"That's the most sense you've done when talking today, Bud."

"Yes, let's play for a while." The shepherd began to move its tail. "You wanna play, Shade?"

The shadow looked at the dog for a few seconds, and then sighed with resignation. "Fine,"

"And you, Alex?"

"I'll pass, boys." Then he gave a chuckle and emphasized the next thing he said. "Have _fun,_ "

"Well, what do we play?"

The dog's gaze turned grim. "Let's fight. And whoever wins will win something."

"Those who lose will have to do what the winner says, they'll owe him an absolute, minimum favor. Without 'but's, without conditions."

"I like the way it sounds, Shade. What do you two say?"

Bud did not hesitate for a second. "I'm in,"

"Yeah," James said after some thought.

The four of them advanced to a fairly large room, which was used for training. "Without weapons, right?"

"Yeah. No weapons."

"What other rules are we gonna use?"

"Rules," Bolt echoed. "What for?"

"So that no one goes too wild, Bolt. For example; one on one. The two winners and the two losers of the first round will face each other to determine the final places. The fourth place will owe more favors than the second."

"Oh, I know. The fourth place will owe a favor to all the others and two to the winner. The third one to the second and the first; and the second will only owe one to the first."

"Sure, what else?"

"How long will the fight last?"

"Can we stop this and start fighting now?"

"Bolt, have a little patience. I know, go and warm up; when you come back we'll tell you the rules and we'll start."

"Fine." The dog ran out of the room.

"What happened?"

"He turned like that since the idea of fighting came out. As if…"

"It was a trigger of his aggressiveness. Interesting."

"Um, Shade, what are we going to tell him when he comes back?"

"Normal combat, two minutes maximum. The opponent must be immobilized against the ground. Whoever fights against him can't sink to the ground. And don't make much mess."

"Well, and with regard to the trigger…"

"We'll work on that; if we can exploit or discover more ways to turn that on, we could use it at will when we require that part of Bolt. Which is great."

The dog came back running at the speed he left. "I'm ready, are you or not?"

"Yes," Shade said.

"Well, who's going to go against me?"

Shade smiled and looked at Bolt, the can answered with a grim look; James and Bud shared a look.

* * *

 **Yeah, that's it for today. Thanks to everyone for reading, following and commenting and whatever; special thanks to my good friend Basbon and his ever-present reviews and to ShadowScare, you too, buddy, are commenting every chapter now, so thanks. Guess I don't have more to say right now, so nos vemos luego!**


	38. An -almost successful- escape

Chapter 38: An –almost successful– escape

In the blink of an eye, six days had passed. In the group, there were no news about Bolt. In the building, Bolt hadn't heard of his "enemies". Each side had followed its own routine, in a way that it was hard to notice that they'd been together sometime before. Mittens was the one suffering the most; she never slept well and her progress was getting stuck, making her even more frustrated. Mega and Rhino had waited for the shadows to make a report, but they hadn't appeared once. However, they did remember what they had told them, so they assumed the shadows hadn't had the chance to leave, and kept waiting for them.

It was dusk and everyone in the animal group was returning home, tired from a hard-training day. Mittens lay in the barn, her head on top of her paws, pretty much in a depression. She didn't want to remember anything or feel anything, and it wasn't working. She just wanted it to be a really bad dream, and wake up next to her beloved dog.

" _But that's not gonna happen,"_ A voice called, making her lift her head and move her ears. A few seconds later, another one answered.

" _That depends on how things go."_

" _So, you're going to make him remember her?"_

" _Well, technically, he does remember her, but as an evil and twisted mind."_

" _Hooray,"_ The first voice answered sarcastically.

" _Well, if you don't like my ideas… Hey, look, we're almost there."_

" _Yeah; quick question. What are we gonna say and to whom?"_

" _What we know to whoever's willing to listen to us,"_

A couple of shadows entered the barn through one of its walls, chattering aloud. "And who's gonna listen to us, Bud? The hamster and the wolf barely believed us, and it's been almost a week since we saw them."

Mittens stared at the pair of shadows; apparently they hadn't noticed her. "I would listen," She said.

The shadows glanced at her. "She," Bud told his companion.

"What are you doing here?" James asked, curiosity over everything else. "Isn't it late?"

"I wanted to think alone and then you appeared." She sat up. "What were you coming to say?"

"We wanted your group to know that Bolt's okay and he's not suffering." Mittens sighed in relief at those words, though Helang had already mentioned that they weren't trying to hurt him; however Bud cleared his throat, getting her attention.

"Well, that's if you see it technically. He does have a little problem."

"And what's that?"

James grunted. "You had to open your mouth, right? Now you tell her."

"Tell me what? What's Bolt problem?"

"You."

The cat blinked in surprised. "Me?"

"The truth is, despite everything we do, he can't stop thinking about you. Even though he thinks your evil, we've heard him call your name in his sleep, and he's easily distracted of anything we tell him to do; he's not reaching the potential he reached he reached when he was with you."

"Bud and I came to the conclusion that even though his head insists that you're the worst thing that happened to his life, his subconscious or something like that knows that's not true and still loves you."

Mittens got very excited to hear that, and she couldn't help but smile. "He still loves me?"

"Look at that. It's the first time anyone not-shadow, or Bolt, smiles in our presence. Write it down, Bud."

Bud took out a small notebook from somewhere. "Noting, December 23th; 8:45 PM. Today, the group's cat smiled after hearing some good news about her boyfriend. First time someone outside our organization smiles in front of us. Additional note: I still have to learn how to write without saying what I'm writing out loud." The shadow then closed the notebook and put it away. "And yes, he still loves you. So much that not being with you just distracts him too much."

"True. A few days ago we had a little tournament; he scored third place out of four, and that's because I let him win against me. He's strong, skillful, fast and everything, but if you're not with him… he's just like incomplete."

Now Mittens couldn't stop smiling. However, she did her best to keep calm. "Thank you," She told the two shadows with an honesty she never expected to use with a shadow.

"It's nothing, I guess. Come on, Bud, we're supposed to be cleaning the room."

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

The shadows left in a moment, leaving no traces of their presence from seconds ago. Mittens, now excited, left the barn and entered the house. She ate quickly and got into Bolt's bed. She still felt something missing, but it was a lot easier for her to fall asleep than the previous days. In a couple minutes' time, she was already dreaming.

The whole scene had been observed by two specters, one white and one black, who were floating above Penny's house. Between them they let out sounds in the form of communication, but anyone else who could hear them wouldn't have had any idea of what they were saying. After a few minutes they disappeared without a trace of having been there.

The next morning Mittens woke up early, even before the time Penny's alarm would go off, and went downstairs quickly. Penny's mother was awake, too, but she wasn't calm at all. In her face worry was evident, and she couldn't be blamed. Her daughter had disappeared, her daughter's dog had disappeared… even her daughter's dog _food_ had disappeared! And she had reported every disappearance, but there were no results at all, even after month and a half.

With that expression of anguish she left the house a few minutes later, leaving enough food for the two pets that hadn't disappeared yet. Mittens had her breakfast in a minute and then went out.

The black she-cat lay down under the tree that had so often made shade and company for her and her friends with no particular expression. She wasn't as distressed as before, but Bolt wasn't with her still. But she was going to fix that, and as soon as Soul's kids arrived she would start training. She spent some minutes in silence until a voice called from somewhere in her head.

" _He says that he's sorry."_

Mittens recognized the voice immediately, and it was a voice that nobody had heard in a week. "Who's sorry, Soul?"

" _The tree under which you are. He says that he's sorry about Bolt."_

"The tree?" Mittens asked in disbelief.

" _The tree. Most times nobody seeks to talk with the plants. Well… I'm nobody."_

"Plants speak?"

" _No. If they did, everyone would listen to them. They do have their own form of communication; they're wise creatures. Since they don't move, and eat and grow 'automatically' their only concern would be to kill some time. But they can live many, many years. What do they do, with all the time of the world and so little to worry about? Meditate. Most trees meditate ninety percent of their lives. The other ten they use it to listen to humans or animals near them or even to communicate with other trees. The result of that is an amazing amount of wisdom, comparable with the one you can find in the records. But you don't speak to a plant, it's not a dialogue. You either talk to them, or you listen to them; you can't do both at a time, since you have to quiet your mind to listen to their voices, and you can't silence a mind that's thinking of something to say. Almost everyone will see it as a crazy thing, to talk to a plant, but you're talking to a dead person right now, what could be further than that?"_

Mittens was a little confused. "Why…?"

" _It's just a curious thing… for you to consider, if you ever want to talk to anybody or hear some advice, trees can do both. Besides, the tree said you'll be the one who saves Bolt, so you should train as hard as ever. And speaking of the devil…"_

"Hi, Mittens, now you're up early today. Something happened?"

The cat shook her head; turning to locate the owner of the voice he found Mega, Byte at his left and Helang on her back.

"Hi, guys… Yes, something happened, but I'll tell you when we're all together."

"Of course, as you prefer," They headed towards the barn and Mega looked over his shoulder. "We'll wait inside for the others."

Mittens nodded and stayed where she was. _Bolt…_

* * *

Bolt was sparring with Alex. Fighting each other, both of them where tired, though the dog was holding the advantage. However, the second he pinned the shadow to the ground, the dog suddenly lifted his head and turned his gaze for no more than a moment. By the time his attention flicked back to the battle, Alex was no more underneath him, and Bolt received a punch right on his face, making him fall to the floor.

"Enough!" The mentor shouted from above them. The all moved to face him, waiting for further instructions. "What was that, Bolt? You had it pinned on the ground."

"Well, yes…" The dog seemed unable to explain his own actions. Like Bud and James had reported, his concentration seemed an impossible concept. "I… I got distracted. Sorry."

The shadow shook its head disapprovingly as Bolt lowered his ears. "Very well. That's all for today; go and do something else. Alex, Shade, I need more information on _that_ matter you told me about. Go."

The five left the training room and began to move along the building's corridors.

"Why, guys? Why can't I stop thinking about her?" The shepherd asked in general, frustration all over him.

"We're not sure, Bolt; maybe there were somethings that they did change," Shade glanced an accusing look at Alex. "That we couldn't fix."

"You just let that go, in short you'll remember the truth about her, and all the harm she's done to you."

"I guess. Although I'm not sure how would that help."

James and Bud kept quiet. They still didn't support the animal group, but they supported bolt, and since he wasn't with Mittens, he was not fine.

"Well, I'm hungry. Wanna eat something?"

James nodded and Alex gestured at Bud to agree with his suggestion. Bolt, however, shook his head. "You go on. I need to think for a while."

"I'll stay with you."

Bolt turned to Shade. "You sure? I can remember almost all of the building; if you want to, you go with them and I'll catch up with you."

"It's okay, Bolt. I think you need to talk to someone."

"If you say so…"

Alex, Bud and James made their way into the dining room, leaving Bolt and Shade alone. They both kept moving through the place, one walking and the other one floating in the air, for a few minutes. Finally, the shadow talked.

"What are you thinking, Bolt?"

"For some reason… in her. I don't understand, if she was pretending, why did it feel so… so real?"

Shade thought quickly. "Remember that she can manipulate minds. That's why everyone's helping her so much. You could even say they're her victims, though they _do_ are to blame and it's our work to eliminate them… So, yeah, she probably manipulated your mind to feel something that would look real."

Bolt's expression showed nothing but confusion, he hadn't believed the shadow totally. "I don't know, Shade… do we really have to kill them all?"

"Think about it, Bolt. They're a threat; if we let them live, we're endangering our own." Shade smiled grimly. "You can see it as a way to… play with your enemies."

When the shadow said that, Bolt's gaze darkened. "Yes, you're right, Shade. They must all die. But I want you to promise me something." The shadow asked for his request with a look. "The cat is mine; I'll take care of her myself." Shade only nodded with a wicked smile.

They both walked aimlessly through the building for about fifteen minutes. By then Bolt's gaze was as usual, but he was no longer thinking or talking about Mittens, they were just "roaming" around the place. There seemed to be no more conversation, until they passed door secured with several locks.

"What's in there, Shade?" The dog asked curiously.

"I'm not sure, Bolt. It's restricted access," What would be Shade's stomach began grumbling, complaining for not having been fed yet. "Well, I'm hungry, so I'll see you later."

Bolt nodded and the shadow left the place. The dog stared at the door for a while before continuing on moving.

Penny's P.O.V.

"Soul, I'm ready!" I could literally feel that just by opening my mouth to call to him some energy of my storage had come out. It felt like I was a balloon full of water, and it would come out from any entrance it had access to. Whatever movement I made would probably be stronger and faster than usual, but that wasn't the purpose for all that energy.

" _Okay, let's get out of here. Step one, done. Step two, you have to release all of that energy as fast and brusquely as you can,"_

I didn't even ask out loud, intending not to waste more energy. _And that is?_

" _You throw all the energy away as fast as you can. Scream, stretch."_

 _I… I don't see how that could help, Soul._

" _Remember my kids? They shoot through their mouths. Visualize that you're doing the same, but with all of the energy you absorbed; same with your hands. Stretch your arms and palms and visualize all the energy bursting out."_

 _Okay, I guess._

I opened my eyes and saw my "room" again. I hadn't moved from there in all that time. " _Go on,"_ Soul called in my head. I focused and after a couple seconds I did what he had instructed. I jumped to my feet, stretching my arms, opening the palms of my hands as I lifted my head and began to scream from the top of my lungs.

Few seconds passed before a yellowish light began to come out of my hands and mouth. _"By the way, you'll probably get a headache or something."_ Yeah, he said it just after that pain had started; and it got almost unbearable within moments, the pressure on my head was horrible. _"Hold on a minute,"_ He said. I looked around, moving my eyes and noticed that the program was really getting overloaded; the furniture was getting fuzzy and some details were disappearing. _"A little mo… I'll… ee you… the other…. ide."_ Soul left moment later and at the same time the light began to cover everything. Then everything became blurry and the aching in my head increased.

I was exhausted; I had no energy at all. _"Welcome back."_

I opened my eyes and found myself in some sort of containment room with some machines connected to pads on my head. The door was ajar, and there was a shadow nearby, lying on the floor.

"Soul… what did you do?"

" _I made it easier for you. Now watch this."_ I instantly felt some energy flowing into my body, enough to stand up. _"Now get unplugged and get out of there."_

I got up from an improvised bed and disconnected everything from me. Then I came out carefully, opening the door. There were no more shadows. _"Probably this one was sent to check that everything was in order."_ That would certainly explain why it was alone, but there was no time to think about it. I walked down a hallway that had several cells just like the one I had used, all empty. _"I think, I hope I'm wrong, that you were the first to test the virtual reality system of shadows. Congratulations!"_

"Not now, Soul."

"Fine then, the door on your left."

This door had a lot of different locks; it took me a minute and a half to finish opening them all. When I finally did, I opened it, which, though being metallic, was much lighter than I thought, and I went out into a hallway. However, I couldn't go outside without making noise; the door reached the floor in some parts, so it let out some awful noises that must have been heard throughout the building. I imagined security shadows would come in a matter of seconds, but whoever came first surprised me a lot more. "Bolt?"

* * *

Penny had left the hibernation area through a door, which Bolt and Shade had seen a few minutes earlier. The shadow had gone to eat, but the dog had stayed nearby without knowing why.

"Penny?"

"Bolt?"

They both opened their eyes and ran to meet the other in a hug. "I'm glad you're safe," said the dog in the arms of his person.

The hug lasted a few more seconds before Penny remembered where they were. "How did you get here, Bolt? Where are the others?"

The dog looked confused. "Well, I think they went to eat something. And I could ask you the same, what were you doing inside that place? It's restricted access, I was told."

"What are you talking about, Bolt?"

"What are _you_ talking about?"

"What are you doing here?" Then she stopped paying attention for a moment. "Is that true?"

"What?"

The girl looked at her dog with some concern. "Bolt, who's helping us?"

"Well, our friends; Shade, Alex, Bud, James."

Penny stared at the shepherd. "I can't believe it… it's true, Soul."

"Soul? Wait a minute, are you talking to him, after what he did?"

"Bolt, he hasn't done anything to us."

The dog looked at her completely confused. "Shade, we have a problem," Then he looked at the girl again. "Penny, they've all been bothering us since I came back with you; that's why the shadows welcomed us here."

"Bolt, that's not true. You came back with me and then we adopted Mittens and Rhino. A few months went by and then you became Mittens' mate, we met the others and then we started training together. Soul gave his life to save me and my mom. They've been helping us since you came back with me, Rhino and Mittens even before then."

Bolt suddenly changed his expression to a serious one. "Is she manipulating your mind?"

"What? Bolt, that's not–"

"I should have imagined it, there's really nothing about my life that she hasn't ruined, is it?" The dog interrupted, ignoring the words of his person. Then he came up with an idea. "But they can help you, they've done it with me and they can do it again."

"Bolt, where are you, buddy? What have they done to you?"

"They helped me. And they will do the same with you." Bolt lifted a paw a few inches off the ground and then hit the same with it. "Guards," he called without emotion. Two shadows emerged from the ground, one on each side of the white dog, and turned to see him.

"What is it, Mr. Bolt?"

He pointed at Penny. "Take her to a cell, and let me know who helped correct my memories."

The pair of shadows moved with agility and in seconds they were besides Penny. "Yes sir. Transferring new prisoner to detention level C." Both shadows took one of Penny's arm."

"Hey, don't touch me!"

It seemed that the girl was about to give some fight, but Bolt intervened. "Don't try anything, Penny; they are friends, but they are not emotionless either. If you hit them or something, I can't answer for you."

"Just as Mr. Bolt said, miss. You have a right to… well, nothing." Both shadows began to laugh, not letting her go.

"Stop," The dog hushed them. "I want a good cell for her, in decent conditions. And make sure she has food and water, and a place to do her needs privately; and treat her well. If I find out that you're not doing as I tell you…"

"I received a call, what's…" The shadow stared at the young girl. "Oh, you did well in calling me, Bolt."

"Shade, good to see you. I think they've done the same to her memories."

"Pre-Precisely Bolt; we did not want you to see her in that state, so she was in contention. We were finding out what had they changed, to analyze the alternatives."

"Can you help her?"

"It will take some time, but in the end we will do the same as we did to you and it will be the same again."

"Thank you, Shade."

"You're welcome, now…"

"Wait. I want to talk to her."

"As you like."

"Alone." Shade looked confused at Bolt's request. "Don't worry," said the dog to calm his shadowy friend. "If she tries anything, I call you." The shadow nodded and vanished. Seconds later, both guards imitated him. "One minute, Bolt." Shade said in his head.

She was the first to speak the moment they were alone. "Bolt, that's not you; they've done something to you, they're trying to use you."

"No, Penny, it's just the opposite. I'm sorry that we have had to go through all this because of that… dumb cat." The dog lowered his head for a moment but raised it immediately. "But don't worry, I'll have them fix you."

"Bolt, listen to me. Let's get out of here… we have to go back with Mittens and Rhino."

"With Mittens? She is the last living thing I want to see, the cause of everything that has gone wrong in my life, and a constant nuisance."

"No, Bolt, she's your best friend and your mate…"

"Time's up!" The three shadows reappeared where they were before, and both guards took Penny again.

"…And judging by how you saw her and how you behaved when you were with her, I would say that it is the last living thing that you would leave without protection or care; cause of many of our best moments, and…"

"Take her already!" Shade ordered.

Both guards began to drag Penny forward. "Your first and only love." The distance between the girl and her dog kept growing. "Think about it, Bolt, this is not right, there is something that doesn't fit!" She could not say more, for the shadows turned in the corridors and both lost eye contact of the other.

Bolt sighed when he stopped seeing his person. "Can you help her, Shade?"

The shadow smiled wickedly. "Just like we did with you, Bolt." Then he looked at the dog standing next to him.

Bolt sighed again. "Is there anything in my life that she has not touched?"

"I doubt it, Bolt; but do not worry, an attack well given and we can get rid of all of them." The shadow began to notice that the dog was behaving strange; His breathing was shaking and he had begun to grunt slightly. "Bolt?"

"I have to… punch something." He breathed. "Now."

The shadow looked around to find something the can could punch. "There's nothing here. Run to the training room." Bolt obeyed and ran to the place. "Interesting." The shadow said once it was alone. Then it began to move in another direction.

Meanwhile, in the block of the building destinated to keeping prisoners, Penny was reaching the detention level.

"Full prisoner transfer." One of the guards said when he arrived. Then both guards handed her over to two other guards.

"Mr. Bolt required her to be placed in a cell with optimal conditions. He also requested that she always have water, food and a place to make her needs with privacy.

"Who asked for this?"

"Mr. Bolt."

"Of course, the requests will be fulfilled. Thanks for the info."

Both guards who had taken Penny there disappeared. The other two took her to a cell in conditions not as deplorable as the others. It was somewhat bigger too and had a small but private restroom. They let her inside and closed the door. Minutes later they returned with a bottle of water and some food. They slid them through the slit without saying anything and then they went back to their doing. A different shadow came to the cell about half an hour later.

"Hi, young lady."

"What do you want?" The girl replied with a glare.

"How aggressive; don't worry, in a short time we'll fix you like we did with your puppy."

"What did you do to Bolt?"

"We fixed him. For some reason, he was supporting the wrong side. Now he will help us to sink everything into darkness. That and the fact that he hates his filthy cat."

"That's not true, it won't work. In the end he'll realize what you're doing to him."

"Of course he will. The question would be: when? After he's killed all his friends? Sounds good to me. And then we can manipulate it for a longer time."

"I will not let you do it."

"But you can't do anything about it, you're in a cell. And you'll be the next one we'll 'cure', at Bolt's request, of course. So have fun." The shadow moved away from the cell laughing. Penny stood there, thinking.

 _Is there really nothing I can do?_

 _"That depends."_

 _Where were you Soul?_

 _"I'm sorry, I was trying to figure something out."_

 _Doesn't matter, do you know how I can get out of here?_

" _No"_

 _Then what do I do?_

 _"My personal recommendation is that you stay here and behave so that they let Bolt visit you. When that happens, tell him everything he remembers is wrong. Consciously he won't believe it, but you will aggravate the doubt he has about what's happening. Sooner or later, his memories will be corrected. He just needs a correct stimulus. Although I think you know that only someone can give the right one."_

 _Mittens._

" _That's right."_

* * *

 **Well, that's about it for now. You see, it was almost successful, heh. At least she's out now, right? Right? Anyway, thanks to everyonefor following, for favoriting, for reading and for everything. Special thanks to Basbon and his ever-present reviews and to ShadowScare, too. Well, I guess that's all I have to say right now, so yeah, nos vemos luego!  
**


	39. Various events

Chapter 39: Various events

Late in the afternoon, the animal group was training and everyone was now aware of what the shadows had told Mittens the day before. The cat was with Soul's kids.

"But there's something I don't understand, why does it have to be a problem that Bolt can't concentrate because he's thinking about her? We're supposed to normalize his memories and that could be useful for it, right, Helang?"

"Not exactly, Mega." The hawk's gaze held a slight concern. "Not because it might be useful for us that Bolt can't forget completely, but because Bud and James were rather thinking about his current situation by saying that it was a problem."

"That is?"

"The shadows are much stricter and less patient with their recruits, and their methods are somewhat… aggressive. If Bolt doesn't progress as they expect him to, and they get tired, they will press him to try harder; no matter how."

"But they wouldn't hurt him."

"Not too much because they will make him doubt, but if they can do things like not let him sleep or eat until he progresses in certain areas or a certain amount. If they play their cards carefully, and we know they can do that, Bolt could continue to believe them even though they take such measures."

"What can we do?"

"From here," the hawk sighed resignedly. "Wait. And train for when an opportunity comes."

Each returned to their own training and continued for the rest of the afternoon; being it night, in the building, Bolt was in the room, pacing back and forth.

Bolt's P.O.V.

Her words kept repeating in my head again and again. _Something's not right._ I don't know why, but I could not take that phrase off, what's not right? Although she is under the influence of… her, her words sounded sincere to me, they _felt_ sincere. I do not understand.

"Bolt!" I heard someone screaming at me.

"Ah… what?"

"Why, about time. You've been staring at the wall ever since you found… oh, right."

"Yes, I'm sorry, Shade, but I have no way to distract myself; even with the fighting I can't stop thinking, either in her or in Penny."

Shade put a hand to his chin and an expression of thinking. A minute later, he spoke in a low voice. "Maybe we should look for something that will catch your attention."

"Can I see how she is?" I asked, moving one step closer to the shadow.

"No," Shade replied dryly. "You can't see her until we have fixed her."

"But perhaps I can make it easier for her memories to be corrected. I could talk some reason into her. You told me how complicated it was to correct _my_ memories, and there were some things that couldn't be fixed totally." I noticed that Shade had clenched his fists at that sentence. "Please?"

"I told you no, Bolt. And there's no… what are you doing?" I changed my strategy and made my doggy face. _But where did I learn that from?_ _Rather, who taught me?_ "Oh no. That's not going to… you know I don't have a… I'm not going to… that can't ... you don't know…" Finally he screamed in frustration. "Fine! you can go and see her, but once a day and only from tomorrow on. No more than five minutes."

"Thank you, Shade!" I felt an emotion I could not control and jumped up to hug him.

Shade only froze, eyes wide open. "Er… s-sure," For a few seconds he didn't move; shortly after he stepped back. "Now we go with the mentor, he says he wants to see us all."

* * *

"Well, let's go." The dog ran out of the room, while Shade was receiving the last part of the communication from his mentor.

"… _everyone but Bolt, Shade."_ The shadow then observed the place where the dog had run seconds before. "Oh, man."

But Bolt already had ran far away; in a matter of seconds he had already reached Bud and James, who were moving calmly toward the meeting place. "Hello, guys." He greeted without stopping. He lost them a few seconds later, at the same time as Shade caught up with them. "Bolt, wait! Damnit." The shadow mumbled when he saw that the dog was not stopping.

Bolt got to where the mentor of the five was; only Alex had arrived before him. "What's going on?" He asked as he stopped.

"Where's Shade?" The look in the shadow's face said it all.

"He shouldn't be long."

A minute and a half later the three last shadows arrived. "We're here, what's happening?"

"You have a mission."

"What?!" They asked in unison, surprised.

"A mission," the mentor repeated. "You're not always going to be so young and you'll have to face your own challenges someday. Your first assignment is today, and it's simple." The shadow began to walk with everyone behind it. "Not long ago one of the greatest opponents of our organization was killed; we called him the Shadow-Killer, hence all the shadows he killed or had a chance to. For reasons we don't understand, he didn't murder many shadows he had at his mercy, but that doesn't matter. His only weapon was a wooden staff with three crystals embedded in it. The records point out that it's a weapon of great power and it's essential that you retract it so that we can analyze it here."

"Are we going to go get a stupid stick? Is that our job?"

"That 'stupid stick' was responsible for the death of hundreds of shadows. And to be your first assignment, I find it fine. Besides, it won't be that simple; the only thing I will tell you is that the subject in question died on a highway in this state, so you also have to locate it. And you have until tomorrow noon to return with it."

"This sucks."

"Maybe, but if you are not able to achieve this simple task, then your future in this organization will be to keep the cells clean or something similar. Now go get that stick."

"Yes, let's go!" Bolt jumped around excitedly, looking like a puppy.

"Hold on, Bolt," the mentor interrupted. "This mission is for the four only; I need you to stay here."

"What? Why?"

"Because your performance has been bad enough, so I don't think you're ready to go out on a field mission."

"But I can do it, give me a chance."

"No, Bolt. In addition, they already reported that you 'got out of control', the police have your name and appearance; if they see you, they will return you with them."

"I can fix that,"

"Are you going to change your appearance? I don't think so. Better go play with…" The mentor's voice trailed off as he saw Shade signaling him not to say more. However, the message arrived late and Bolt had a somber look in his eyes again. "Bolt?"

"Let's get out of here," he said in a sinister voice as he started to walk.

"Didn't you hear me? You can't go, if they recognize you…"

"They won't." Then Bolt stopped dead and closed his eyes; he took a deep breath and then let out a disturbing howl. As he howled, his fur began to turn black, except for the tip of his ears and tail. On one side he had also a white area, forming a pattern that looked like the symbol the elite shadow had on the chest. "Let's go, boys." He repeated when he finished the change and continued walking without even corroborating that they were following.

"How did he…? What the…?"

"We'll ask him on the way, because neither Shade nor I put that into the programming," Alex interjected. "Now we'd better get there, we're not sure what his limit is in that state, and we'd rather not find out." The other three shadows nodded and among the four began to run to catch up with Bolt. The mentor stood there, saying nothing, totally surprised.

* * *

"Tomorrow is Christmas!" Bolt had heard at least fifteen times as he walked through the city in the company of three shadows, which were sliding across the floor and evading the people. Several persons had tried to pet the dog, to which he always responded with a growl.

"What's that about Christmas and why are they all so crazy?" He asked, annoyed, after hearing the same sentence for a millionth time.

"It's a human holiday…"

 _A human holiday._ That phrase echoed in the dog's head; he spent a few seconds trying to remember who and when he had heard that exact combination of words, but he only won a free headache instead "… and give gifts to the children. It's supposed to be time for 'peace, love' and all that nonsense."

"Uh… yeah," answered the dog, pretending to have heard.

"You didn't listen to me, did you?"

"No, I was thinking..." He didn't want to accept that mentor had been right and he wasn't capable of concentrating. "…on our mission. Speaking of which, James, what did you find?"

" _More or less on the first days of October there was a shadow squad sent to a California road… or so says in here."_ reported the shadow that had stayed in the building. _"Their target was a car with two human females inside, a girl and her mother._ Her name was _Pen… Penelope, and was classified as a potential threat to the organization._ _The squad never reached the car and the targets escaped;_ _less than half of that squad returned alive, and among them was not their leader."_

"The records say on which road?"

" _Give me a moment… there. It's a road east of your present location, leaving the city and beyond the suburbs;_ _this road leads to the state of Nevada._ _No more info here."_

"Well, we'll go east. Move it." Bolt increased his speed, leaving his teammates behind.

"Wait for us!"

"Hurry up; we have until tomorrow at noon!" He called over his shoulder

"Well… he's right."

"He's still pretty excited, isn't he?"

"Alex and I believe that certain words activate certain characteristics within him as a side effect of what we did with his memories. The word 'play' puts him like this, it gives him a somber facet, for a time that we have not yet determined; we believe it depends on the circumstances under which he heard the word, but we aren't sure."

" _Hurry up or I'll be the only one who did something on this mission._ _And that the mentor did not want me to come._ _'Lack of concentration', how stupid."_ They heard in their minds as Bolt kept running, getting further and further away. Without letting another second pass the shadows accelerated to try to reach the dog.

Bolt kept running without stopping for at least half an hour; he could feel energy running through all of his body, even the tip of his tail, and he did not care where it had come from. Among the many places that he passed by in those thirty minutes was one abandoned and demolished house that the dog didn't recognize. However, within that place, two specters noticed the presence of the puppy and sent a message.

It dawned a few hours later. At Penny's house there was not much joy in Christmas, not given the circumstances, although Mittens and Rhino were not depressed or frustrated, rather, they wanted to concentrate on training for the opportunity to rescue Bolt. They both ate breakfast without wasting time and then went out to meet the others; however Mega received them with two words that they didn't believe they would listen at that time.

"Day off."

"What?" Asked the two, disconcerted.

Then Helang arrived. "It's Christmas, guys; I know your situation isn't the most pleasant for today, but the others deserve a day with their families. And don't worry, everything will return to normal tomorrow."

"Then you want us to go home and sit and watch the magic box all day, pretending nothing's happened, while Bolt is in the shadow base?"

"Hey, easy, Rhino; we know how you must be feeling…"

"I really doubt it."

"Maybe you don't remember that Beta was with them much longer than Bolt so far."

"But Beta walked in there being herself; she didn't hate you when she was there and didn't think you were the cause of all the bad things that had happened to her."

Helang finally sighed in defeat at the insistence of the two. "Fine. There's someone else who's not celebrating Christmas today."

"And who is it?"

"Me." They both turned their heads and found Kass a few feet behind them.

"Kass received a message from Umbra and Lux last night; the specters reported that Bolt was on his way east, apparently on a highway."

"What the hawk said. And, well, the fact that if the shadows are sending him to field missions, it should be easier for us to intercept him" The cat moved closer to the others. "And we won't be alone." As he spoke, Umbra and Lux appeared at his sides.

"Hey, wait a minute. You didn't mention that those two would accompany you."

"So what, Helang?"

"What are they doing?"

Then Umbra began to grunt repeatedly, sometimes low and some more slightly. "He says they're going for support."

"Support? Does that mean that if we find ourselves in a battle they will fight?"

Lux did the same as Umbra. A low grunt, a slight one and then three low "No," Kass said as the light grunted.

"How do you understand them, Kass?"

"It's not that complicated; it's morse."

"Morse?"

"Morse."

"Do you know Morse?"

"I told you I was not going to waste my time when I'm with them. It's not that they don't talk, but both have made a vow of silence until things calm down. In the meantime, they use Morse to communicate; the low growl is long, and the slight grunt is short.

"~ ... .~ ~ ... / .~. .. ~~. ... ~"

"What did he say?"

"'That's right'. Should we go?"

"And everyone else?"

"Peep Jonathan and Flor are with their persons. Alfa Beta and Delta are going to be with us."

"Well then, Merry Christmas, I suppose." The hamster said, still a little annoyed.

"Thank you, Rhino; don't worry. If it gets too complicated and you need help, call us. And tomorrow we will return to the normal agenda."

And so, Kass, Mittens, Rhino, Umbra, and Lux made their way to the east at moderate speed.

"Boys, do not hold the glass too long, or your arm will get tired!" Helang called after them. When the distance between them was enough, the hawk spoke to Mega. "We know he's not coming back today, right?"

"Then you felt it, too."

"Yes, I did. I hope they understand that things happen, as that cat would say, 'how, when, where, why and with whom they must.'" The wolf only nodded and then they both left the place.

Meanwhile, the shadows and Bolt were already on the road.

"Are you sure it's the right one?"

" _Totally, Bolt;_ _no more roads are mentioned at least within a one-month radius."_

"Do we know where the guy died?"

"Probably on the road, right? If our squadron was following the car in the street, it is logical to think that in the street he faced them, and that in the street he died."

"But if he died in the street, the stick stayed in the street; and hundreds of cars pass through the highways every day. As far as I'm concerned, the stupid stick we were sent to look for, it's broken."

"Come on, Alex, if we don't bring back the staff we won't go out again on field missions."

"Don't you dare give me a talk about… Bolt, what's wrong?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Your fur. It's changing back."

The dog looked at his paw, and, in fact, his coat was returning to normal. "I need energy; this constantly spends energy to keep my fur in another color. Between the time that I've looked this way and the distance we ran a while ago, I must have exhausted my energy."

Bud pulled out a dark portion from somewhere. "Here, Bolt."

"Thank you." The canine approached the shadow and ate without hesitation the viscous, dark mass. Moments later, he took a deep breath and his fur became black again. "Let's keep going."

The group continued advancing along the road looking for the stick without results for at least an hour. It was already ten o'clock, and if they didn't hurry, they would not be back in time. Fifteen minutes later, Shade noticed something lying on the edge of the street. "There!" He shouted, pointing to the object.

"I think ... Yes, it is!"

They all ran to where Shade had pointed. Indeed, it was the staff that had been sent for. It looked a little dirty, but otherwise it was fine. "Great, let's take this and let's get out of here." The moment Bud touched the cane, one of its crystals lit up and the shadow screamed from the top of its lungs.

* * *

"Did you hear that?"

"It didn't that far from here. Maybe we're close."

"Question; what do we do if we find Bolt, attack him?"

"~. ~~~"

"No, it's dangerous."

"Then what?"

"~.. .. ... ~ .~. .~ ~.~. ~ .. ~~~ ~."

"Good, Umbra. We have to distract them."

"And then?"

"They know what they're doing. Hurry." The group speeded up and looked up to try to find whoever it was.

* * *

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

"Don't be a baby."

"Touch it and we'll see who's crying." Bud retorted, tears in his eyes

"We don't have time for this; any of us who touch it will get hurt."

Alex thought for a few seconds. "Anyone… except, maybe, you."

"Me?" Bolt stepped back.

"He has a point, Bolt; the whole time you were with them you may have developed resistance to this type of things."

The dog looked clearly dubious. "I don't know guys; what if I forget you again?

"We'll fix your memories again."

Bolt took a few moments to breathe and then approached the staff. "Well, but let it be…" He stopped abruptly as he raised his head and moved both ears.

"What, what is it?"

"We are not alone."

* * *

"... . / ~.~ ~. ~~~ .~~ ..."

"Damnit, he's already perceived us! Come on, we have to hurry up, or he's gonna leave."

"How do they know?"

"They have their methods."

"What's the plan? We distract them and then what?"

"~ ... . .~. . ... / ~. ~~~ / .~~. .~... .~ ~."

"Really, Lux?"

"What, what's the plan?"

"Um… you don't wanna know."

* * *

"Bolt, you take the staff; we fight them. And try not to touch those crystals."

He nodded and took the stick with his muzzle. As Alex had said, it didn't cause Bolt any instantaneous damage, so he started running toward some nearby trees without letting go. "Don't face them, Bolt!

"What are we going to do if it's the wolves?"

"It's not the wolves."

"Then who…? Oh, right."

Seconds after Bud finished, two feline figures emerged in the distance; one was carrying a hamster on its back. The shadows looked at each other, and began to move toward their opponents.

* * *

"Kass, Bolt's not with them."

"I figured as much. Umbra, Lux, look for him." Both specters disappeared immediately.

"What about us?"

"If his 'protectors' are here, then we will confront them. Distraction, remember?"

"Maybe I should go with them," Mittens proposed carefully.

"Bad idea; if we don't take care of these three they will raise the alarm and we will have thirty on us. The two of them can handle Bolt, now let's go. Please tell me you have some hidden ability."

"It was a very heavy week; I barely trained a little."

"And you, Rhino?"

"The energy sphere, speed and strength."

"We'll have to make the best of that. I'll charge at them, cover my back. " The orange cat began to run towards the shadows.

* * *

"Incoming!"

"Leave it to me." Bud imitated Kass and increased his speed. "Take care of the other two."

* * *

"Come on, cat, the shadows will take on Kass!" The hamster noticed that Mittens was not paying much attention. "It's for Bolt; if we beat them soon, we will reach Umbra and Lux and take him home!"

The cat reacted after that and started running with Rhino over her head. "Come on, Rhino!"

"Yeah!" The hamster reached out his hands and prepared the first sphere of energy.

While the battle between the six was taking place, Bolt was running among the trees with the staff still on his muzzle, repeating the words of the shadow in his head. _Don't face them, don't face them, don't face them._ He was trying hard not to turn around and go to fight, because he felt an impulse that urged him to do so.

Finally he heard a series of slight grunts, so he stopped and laid his cane on the ground. "Who is it?" In response there were only more grunts. "Show yourself!" At Bolt's request, two specters appeared in front of him. He realized what he had done and reacted with speed. He took the staff and started running again. _Shade!_ _Alex!_ _Bud!_

 _"I'm sorry, my friend, but we're a bit busy…"_

 _Damnit!_ _Why didn't I keep quiet?_ He thought without stopping; then turned his gaze a little and noticed that both spectres were about to catch up. Moments before that happened, Bolt threw the cane into a bush and stopped dead, causing both of his pursuers to pass by. Then he began to run back to the shadows. _I'm coming for you guys._

" _What?_ _No!_ _We are fine._ "

But Bolt ignored it and kept running back to where he had left his friends.

When he arrived, all three were on the ground; both cats had their claws glued to the shadows so they wouldn't sink to the ground and the hamster was on top of them with a sphere of energy in his paws; however, they weren't moving from there, they weren't actually hurting the shadows. Bolt didn't think much of that and began to stalk the aggressors of his friends from behind, in silence, trying not to lose the surprise factor. When he was about to catch up, he heard more grunts.

"~… . …. .. ~. ~.. / ~.~~ ~~~ ..~"

Then Kass turned and stood face to face with the dog; the cat was surprised for a moment by the new appearance of him. "Bolt?" That comment was enough for the other two to turn, asking the same thing as Kass just moments before.

The cane recoiled a little and made subtle gestures to the shadows for them to disappear; however, the three stood up and prepared again. "Ready for round two, cat." Then, without giving Kass time to turn, Bud hit him on the side, though with much less strength than he could use, throwing him against Mittens, who barely dodged him.

Rhino wasted no time and threw the sphere on his paws, leaving Bud motionless and throwing him to the ground. Mittens went to give support to the hamster and between the two they began to face Alex and Shade. Bolt was about to intervene in favor of the shadows, but when he made the first step someone pulled him from the tail. "This will be in between you and me, Bolt."

"If you want to." Then Bolt growled and Kass bristled as he snarled.

The cat remained motionless in the position he had adopted, ready to attack. The can began to run towards him seconds later; however, as he was about to hit him, a pair of hands stopped him and immobilized him. Bolt tried to get out of the grip for several seconds, until he felt a shock that left him exhausted, making his fur turn white again. The other two shadows were already lying on the ground. In the struggle Bolt realized that it was a white specter who was holding him. "Lux!"

".~ .~~. .~~. .~ .~. . ~. ~ .~.. ~.~~ / …. . / ~.. ~~~ . … / .~. . ~~. ~~ ~… . .~. / ..~ …"

"Apparently he does." Lux put Bolt on the floor next to his companions; all the shadows remained stunned by Rhino's energy sphere and Bolt had been drained of his energy, even to move; they were totally helpless.

Mittens approached the dog carefully. "Bolt?"

"Stay away from me," He snapped as aggressively as he could with the little energy he had left.

"We have to get him home." But when Rhino turned to talk to both specters, neither was there. "Where are Umbra and Lux?"

"They left, and said something like 'not today' before leaving."

"Then we'll take Bolt home?"

"Maybe we can… Oh, boy." As soon as he finished the sentence, Kass was struck by an entity moving at an incredible speed.

Rhino immediately began to load a sphere, but suffered the same fate as his companion without having had a chance to even aim. Mittens began to look in all directions. The being moved like a shadow, with much speed and precision. After a few seconds it also tried to ram Mittens, but stumbled in its speed, showing its identity. It was a specimen of gray fox with light brown eyes. The stranger got up immediately, but Mittens was gone. The fox approached the four and touched each one in the chest, giving some energy to Bolt and releasing the shadows of their state of stun. Then he glanced in the direction Bolt had taken minutes earlier with the staff on his muzzle.

The four understood the message and began to move in that direction while the fox raised its nose to sniff the cat's trail.

"Who's that?"

"No idea; whoever he is, we owe him one."

"His speed is impressive. What level of shadow would he have on his mind?"

Half a minute after that little rain of questions with drought of answers, the fox ran to meet the others. He was followed by Kass Rhino and Mittens, with the first two almost without any scratch.

"Quick!" He shouted at the four of them in a voice that was more acute than they expected.

"He has a sharp voice," Alex whispered to Shade without stopping to run, to which the second nodded as they both chuckled.

They all reached where Bolt had thrown the staff, following the fox. Being close to the object, the stranger stopped and spread one paw to touch it and the other towards the others, who were about to reach him.

"We have to touch his paw!"

"And why's that?"

"Just do it!"

No one else objected to the order from the dog, and as they approached each placed a hand on the fox's paw. Bud was the last to arrive and as soon as he placed his hand on top of the others, the whole environment began to look blurry. Seconds later the five of them were back in the building.

* * *

 **Say whaaat... Comments: First, yes, it is morse. You can look for a morse translator and check what the spectres say if you want to, you'll have to replace these guys (~) with the normal (-) for it to work though, since FF didn't let me place more than one hyphen together. Second, kinda-cliff-hanger there, I guess. You'll get to meet this new guy next week, so yeah... Anyway, thanks for reading, following, favoriting, and everything. Special thanks to Basbon and ShadowScare, for reviewing like it's usual. I really appreciate it guys. I guess that's all I have to say right now... nos vemos luego!  
**


	40. New friend, new lesson

Chapter 40: New Friend, New Lesson

Alex was the first to react. "Well, that's new."

"Totally; not even our mentor's partner knows how to do something like this." James added, entering the room. "You even brought the cane."

Bolt got up and looked at the stranger. "We certainly owe you one, buddy. I'm Bolt." He stretched out a paw. "I see you know what you're doing."

The fox responded with a chuckle. "Kia." He said in his high-pitched voice.

"Kia?" Four out of them five asked

James then elbowed Bolt in the side. "He's a 'she', genius," he reproached him.

"What?!" The other three shadows and the dog looked at the fox, who nodded as 'he' laughed.

"That explains the voice." Alex whispered to Shade. "And now that I see her standing still, she does have a feminine complexion."

"Who would have said it?"

Bolt blushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Oh, it's okay," she said as she approached the shepherd. "I was moving fast and there was no time for introductions." Then she started to walk around the dog, brushing her tail around his neck, making him blush more. When she was done, she turned her gaze towards the shadows. "And I think you're Shade, you're Alex, Bud and James, or am I wrong?"

"Not at all, but how do you know us?" Bud asked.

"The one who sent me here told me that I would find you; although he didn't mention you." The fox commented, looking at Bolt.

"And who sent you?"

"I don't know, he was always hidden in the shadows and covered, but I think he's someone important around here. He told me that he admired my speed and that I could give it a good use with his help."

"It must have been the boss. Wait, you don't have a shadow in your mind?" Kia shook her head. "Then you're like the good ol' Bolt, ability itself."

She looked at the dog. "You don't have one of them in your head?"

"No," The fox stared at Bolt without a particular expression.

Half a minute later, Shade realized what had happened. "The stick, you geniuses, we have to give it to the mentor!"

"True. Bolt, you have to carry this with the mentor."

"Sure." Then the dog walked over to where Alex had pointed and took the staff in his snout again.

"And I think we should also introduce Kia to him," Bolt nodded and held the staff. Everyone then left the room.

While they were walking, a doubt came to Bud's mind. "Hey, Kia?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you know about this place, since you gotta know the place you're teleporting to?"

"Well… I guess he described this place so much and with so many details that I only had to remember that when you touched my paw. The description he gave me probably aligned with a memory of one of you from this place, and that was enough."

"How long ago did you meet the boss?"

"Almost two months ago. I lived outside a small town near the border and stole food from clueless humans; one day I tried to rob him. He stopped me, but it wasn't easy either. It was then when he offered me an opportunity to stop stealing and give another use to my ability."

"And what do you hope to achieve here?"

"Nothing." She answered simply.

"What do you mean 'nothing'?"

"I'll explain later, guys. How long 'till we find your mentor?"

"He should be around here, somewhere." Bolt grunted a little, making everyone look at him, then pointed to the training room. "Of course, that's a good place to start."

Indeed, the mentor was inside that room, into his affairs until he heard his students enter. "Then you did it."

"That's right," Alex answered proudly. "But if Bolt hadn't gone, we wouldn't have it now."

"Explain yourself."

While the students told the mentor about their little adventure a group of two cats and a hamster went back home, with two of the three pretty decayed.

"Come on guys, we knew it was possible that something happened." The third was trying to encourage them even a little.

"We had him, and then… then she appeared…"

"It was a 'she'?" Mittens nodded slowly. "Wow, never really stopped to think about that possibility."

"Very well, enough of sorrows; I want to know how it is that both of you beat the shadows, putting aside the date. And I want to know how you managed to help us so quickly. It was very similar to the healing ability of the wolves, but you said that you hadn't trained all week long."

Neither of them knew what to answer. "I guess… it was because I wanted Bolt back today." The cat said, still discouraged, several seconds later.

"Same here, knowing that we could do something to get Bolt back gave me strength and motivation."

"Well, don't lose that hope. Because that opportunity is still there; it'd only been postponed."

"And will really be another chance?"

"Of course, in time." In the distance, the houses began to appearwhile the three continued to walk.

* * *

"Kia, then," The shadow raised a hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

"And you are?" The fox asked as she shook it.

"The mentor of the five madmen that you saved." The shadow saw that Kia tilted her head. "Oh, that; no I don't have a name."

"Why?"

"Many shadows have no name. Just like that. But let us return to what matters." The shadow turned to see the dog. "Take that to research and place it where they tell you to; after all, you are the only one who can touch that thing without suffering damage."

"Yes, sir." He bowed slightly his head, then took the staff out of the room.

When the dog left the place, the shadow looked at his students. "Is he back to normal?"

"It seems; but this time it lasted much longer than before. We will investigate on the matter."

"I hope so, Shade. But beforehand" –The shadow he turned to Kia– "show the place to our guest."

"Absolutely, sir. Come with us _milady."_ The students guided the newcomer out of the room, leaving the mentor alone again.

"'Milady'? Pf, they're crazy."

While the four shadows showed him the place to Kia, Bolt was on his way to leave the staff. He was humming a rhythm that he didn't locate at first, until he realized where he had got such a melody stuck. It was the song he had heard Mega sing a few months before, when he had no memory. _What the hell, why did that come to mind?_ He shook his head as he walked and tried to push the thought away from his mind; however, slowly, he succumbed to the sticky song. _How was it?_ _"When the heart rules the mind, one look and love is blind. When you want the dream to last, take a chance, forget the past."_ The moment Bolt finished thinking the last word, the crystals of the staff lit up. Then he had to let go of it, for his head had begun to ache; he held it with both paws, as if trying to get the pain through them, for a few seconds. When that time was over, he just fell flat to the ground "Mittens?" He asked as he rose to his feet again. He seemed to be in shock, his gaze lost; a minute later he reacted and started to laugh alone. "No, that's not possible." Then he took the staff again and went on his way. _Mental note: Do not think of anything related to… them while carrying this thing._

* * *

An hour later, Kass Mittens and Rhino were back at the home of Penny. Curiously, Byte was lying out of the barn.

"What happened?" Asked the wolf when they were near.

"What happened to you?" Kass asked in response.

Byte sighed. "Alpha and Delta are with his person. I really hadn't taken it into account and I didn't imagine they would be with him today."

"And Beta?"

"Helang took her; he said he wanted to talk to her." Anticipating the next question, Byte made a gesture with her paw "And he's in the barn, he wanted to be alone."

"Why?"

"He probably got nostalgic."

After that there was no word for a few minutes until Rhino excused himself and entered the house; Kass soon after did the same and took direction somewhere, leaving both females, still silent.

"Do you remember when we first met?" Asked Byte to break that solid silence.

Mittens remembered a few seconds. "Yeah Bolt had already met you, but we haven't. You came to pick us up to take us to your camp and I… I thought you were interested in it."

The wolf chuckled at that. "Yes, I remember how you told me; you weren't subtle at all, you asked me straightly what I thought about him, and when I began to mention his qualities…"

"I told you he was mine." The cat finished, both slightly ashamed and amused by the memories.

They would have continued to chat, but a loud sound was heard from inside the barn, followed by annoying comments from a voice that was clearly Mega's. The two of them looked at each other and then walked around the place to reach the door. Mittens was going to open, but Byte signaled for her to wait. Two minutes later, the wolf pushed the door very gently, giving them both a chance to peek inside. They could see a lot of scorched straw and the wolf lying in the middle of the place with his back to the door, singing again.

As he was just beginning, Mittens wanted to stay and listen to the wolf's singing ability, which was better than she expected. For some reason, inside the barn also sounded an acoustic guitar, very in the distance and barely audible, but as the only additional sound was Mega's voice, it sounded good. Both were slow and passive.

 _April, come_ _she_ _will_

 _When streams are ripe and swelled with rain;_

 _May, she will stay,_

 _Resting in my arms again._

The way the wolf kept his voice and extended the name of the months was captivating; the sound of the guitar in conjunction with his deep voice made it sound really nice.

 _June, she'll change her tune,_

 _In restless walks she'll prowl the night;_

 _July, she will fly_

 _And give no warning to her flight._

It all revolved around a "she", so maybe he was thinking about his old mate, singing something like that. But he had said that he had let her go without resentment. What was the point of that?

 _August, die she must_

 _The autumn winds blow chilly and cold;_

 _September I'll remember_

 _A love once again has now grown old._

That last part surprised her. Without telling the meaning of the song, everything sounded very pleasant and the tone was calm; but what the words said was something else.

"That depends on the perspective you give to it," Mega told them without moving. "Because, to me, it's a pretty nice song."

"Hadn't you let her go?"

"I did, girl, but I have not stopped loving her."

"That makes no sense."

"Not for you because you haven't fallen in love. You won't understand until you feel true love." Then he turned his head and looked at the cat. "It's easier for Mittens to understand this than to you."

"But I don't understand either."

"I hope when I explain it you do or I'll have bad news for you. But there's someone else who should listen to what I want to tell you, and she's with Helang now, so we'll have to wait. "The wolf turned his head and laid it back on his feet, beginning to sing again. Mittens entered the barn and Byte stepped out of it.

* * *

"Penny?"

"Bolt?" The girl got up from her bed and went to the bars of the cell. "What are you doing here?"

"They gave me permission to come once a day." The dog moved as close as he could to the cell. "I promise I'll get you fixed."

"No, Bolt, _I_ promise you that."

"Not again."

"Come, Bolt, think a little; Don't you think there's something that's just not right with all this?"

The dog did what his person asked and began to think about his current situation. Everything went well, until a doubt came to his mind. If he and Penny were in danger with the group of animals, why hadn't the shadows brought their mother here, too? Bolt started to wonder about that question, but seconds later his head ached and, for some reason, he couldn't keep thinking about it. "I don't know, Penny; everything seems right to me. I'm sorry, I have to go back to them." Bolt turned and started to walk. "But I'll come tomorrow." It was the last thing he said before he left.

"In the state you are," the girl told him even though he was gone. "Talking to the wall would bring more results than talking to you, boy."

" _But the wall_ _won't move unless you take it down;_ _your dog will."_

"He won't listen to me."

" _Of course not;_ _the shadows blocked his mind for him not to._ _But not as well as they should have._ This is what you do: _You alternate things, one day you try to persuade him and the next you just talk to him,_ _so he won't see 'healing' you as a priority because he'll assume that you still have some 'common sense' in you. Thus, he won't rush the shadows too much for them to modify your memories."_

"As you say, Soul."

Meanwhile, Bolt was already looking for his companions. Since he was walking from one place to another without being able to locate them, the dog used his speed to try and find them faster. He succeeded, but not in the way he expected, for he turned in a corridor at a high speed and found everyone going in the opposite direction. Bolt couldn't stop in time and crashed into his friends.

"I'm sorry," he told them as he got up. Moments later helped Kia to do the same. "It was my fault." She giggled a little. Then Bolt remembered that they almost never went through that place in their daily schedule. "Where are you guys going?"

"We were showing him the place to Kia. And where were you?"

"I-I turned in the stick and then went to Penny." Shade growled softly at hearing that, barely loud enough for the dog to hear. "Hey, you said I could see her every day, and it wasn't even five minutes."

"Who's Penny?"

"She is…"

"My person."

"Really? I thought you had no connection with the humans."

"Only with her, and her mother." The dog thought on those words for a second. "And speaking of that…"

"We don't have time!" Alex interrupted. "We have to show the rest of this place to Kia. Bolt, I think you should train more for future assignments."

"But…"

"You still owe me a favor, right? Then come with me for a moment, Bolt." Shade intervened. Then he turned to the others. "Go on, I'll catch up."

"What do you want as a favor?" Asked the dog, fearing the worst, when they were both alone.

"It's gonna be in two parts. The first is that I want you to spend time with Kia."

"What?"

"What you heard. Get to know her, talk to her."

Bolt sighed. "Well, it doesn't sound bad. What is the second part?

"Do it as and when you want, but starting tomorrow. Today go and do something else."

"Why?"

"Because you owe me a favor and I'm using it here."

"Technically they are two favors."

"No, no. They are two parts of one, because the second is rather a condition for the first."

He tried for a few seconds to contradict the shadow, but didn't find how. "All right; I'll spend some time with Kia." Before Shade could say anything he continued. "'As and when I want, but starting tomorrow.' All right. Happy?"

"No, and you know I can't."

Bolt realized his mistake and tried to correct it. "I'm sorry, Shade; I really didn't remember that you couldn't… I'm sorry."

"Nah, doesn't matter," The shadow turned to catch up with the group; however, he didn't get far, since a couple of paws trapped him in between them. "Bolt?" Indeed it was the dog, who was giving Shade a hug. The shadow tried to get out of the grip of the dog for a few moments until he felt something new inside his chest; a faint heat he had never felt. When Bolt released the shadow, Shade turned to look at him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now I'll go somewhere; see you at night, I guess."

Shade nodded and then they went in separate ways.

* * *

The wolf stood and looked at both females. "Girls, I'm going to tell you a little about love."

Byte, who was at the entrance to the barn, burst into laughing. "Really, Mega?"

"That's right," he answered without even looking at his sister. "And you can stay, but in silence."

Beholding the seriousness in the wolf's voice, Byte chose to do what he had said and lay just inside. "If it turns out it is rubbish what you're going to say…"

"'The rubbish of one is the treasure of another.'" Byte didn't respond, so Mega looked back at both of them. "I want to explain to you a little-known concept; but before that" He turned to see the cat. "Answer me a question, Mittens. What would be the most important thing to you, regarding Bolt?"

She thought for a few seconds. "The most important thing for me… would be to know that he is well and okay."

"No matter the circumstances?" Mittens nodded. "Then it's not so important that Bolt is with the shadows right now, as long as they're not directly hurting him."

"Almost, he doesn't have his memories in order right now, so I think they're taking advantage of him. Although, certainly, if he is feeling well then I don't worry so much either.

Mega thought for a moment the response the she-cat had gave him. "Right. Now," Mega looked at his daughter. "Beta, do you think your sister really is in love with Pepe?"

"I don't know if she's 'in love' with him, but at least she has an interest in him."

"Wise answer, my daughter."

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"Everything. Many beings live their entire lives confusing two concepts: love and attachment."

"Attachment?"

"Attachment girls; have you ever heard the humans say 'if you love her let her go'? Well, that's actually how it works. When you fall in love with someone, you truly fall in love, your priority becomes the well-being of the other, not mattering any other thing."

"Sounds logical."

"But how would we know if it's real?"

"First, there are several kinds of love," The wolf explained. "There are not better some than others, they are only different; but it is important that you know how to differentiate any kind of love with attachment. You want to know if love is real, it's as simple as answering a question. Would you share him?

"What?" Both girls exclaimed at once.

"What you heard, girls. Would you be willing to share the male you love?"

"Why would we do such a thing?"

"It's a hypothetical question. Suppose someone else comes into play and is also in love with him; he could choose, or you could get to a point where you both have a part of his heart. Given this situation, would you be willing to share him?"

Beta flatly shook his head, but Mittens thought for several seconds. "I… I guess that if Bolt did love someone else _and_ me… that would be, well… something possible, right?" She thought some more. "Well, yes, it would be preferable to share him with someone else than to lose him. Although if he were happy with someone else, maybe it would be best if I didn't get in the way," She finally sighed. "I don't know, it would hurt… but he would be happy." Mittens turned to Mega and nodded. "Actually when the shadows took him away, I was more worried that they would hurt him than he wasn't with me."

"You just left me with nothing to say Mittens. All this was intended to tell you after you answered my question. Congratulations, Mitty, your love for Bolt is legitimate."

"Mitty?"

The wolf chuckled. "It just came to me; I'll probably never call you that again." Then he turned to look at his daughter. "If your sister really is in love with Pepe, in the end she would be willing to share him or even let him be with Flor just to see him happy; and it applies with Flor, too.

"Then should I tell her?"

"No. If you tell her then she'll do it to prove that she loves him; the thing is that she alone comes to such a conclusion when the same question that I asked comes into her situation."

There was silence for several minutes. "That's it?"

"What else do you want me to say? Mittens said everything I'd planned to say."

"So that's why Mom left?"

"That's why I let her go; if she was in love with someone else, her happiness was before mine. It makes me happy that she is happy. Besides, having followed us, sooner or later would have been in the middle of this mess, and she always wanted a quiet life."

"And how do you know if she's all right?"

"I can still feel her, as I did the first day. The warmth of being close to her, her scent, her fur, everything. The earth tells me about her life and the fire tells me about her moods."

"The two elements you know." Mega nodded, smiling.

The conversation ended with that smile and in the barn Mega sang again, with Beta and Mittens near him. Byte didn't move either, and so she didn't move any closer to her brother.

* * *

Evening came, and Bolt hadn't made contact with anyone from his team since Shade had claimed his favor, for everyone had been with Kia all day. The dog was in the room, walking around while thinking of anything. A shadow interrupted him.

"Bob, I want to talk to you."

He bowed and approached the mentor to listen. "What's going on?"

"It's about the request you made to me."

He reacted immediately. "Do you know anything yet? Where is he?"

"No. I have no idea of the whereabouts of the idiot of my partner; I haven't heard from him since… hell, I don't even remember since when. And he is the only one who knows how to extract memories from us. Your other alternative would be to make the modifications to the memories without extracting them; but it is much more dangerous."

"Why are you telling me that?"

Because Shade is much less patient than me, and I'm not patient. When he finds out, he'll want to try it immediately."

"But your companion won't be lost forever; we could wait for him to get back and then do it."

"Maybe, but until then I suggest you treat that matter carefully." Then the shadow began to move away from the can. He stopped after a few 'steps' and turned. "And Bolt, you're not sleeping here anymore."

"Huh?"

"You'll sleep with Kia, two rooms further in the corridor."

"Why?"

"Foxes are known for their cunning; also for being cheaters. Moreover, she doesn't have a shadow in her mind, she is unpredictable. I want you to pay attention to what she does, without exaggerating."

"So she's dangerous because… she doesn't have a shadow in her mind?"

The shadow realized that he had screwed it. "Oh, no, Bolt. I'm not generalizing, I mean that we just met her; we already have time with you. I didn't mean to insinuate anything."

"Sure. Then you just want…"

"To be cautious. It's just to make sure that she's not poking around, or doing something she's not meant to."

He thought for a few seconds, and then he sighed. "Okay."

"Alright. Anything happens, you notify me immediately."

"As you wish."

"And she doesn't need to know this. We don't want misunderstandings when we just met her."

* * *

A couple of hours later both groups were finishing their day. All the shadows were laying on their beds and only Bolt was missing.

The dog appeared in the entrance of the room. "Good night, boys." But he didn't enter.

No one stood still; they all left the room and peered out the door. "Bolt, where are you going?"

"With Kia, the mentor said I would be sharing a room with her."

"What?" But Bolt didn't answer and entered two rooms further the one they used.

"Bolt?" The she-fox didn't hide her surprise.

"Hi, Kia, do you mind if I sleep here?"

"Not at all. But can I ask why?"

 _Think of something Bolt… Now!_ "Uh… because I'd like to sleep with someone who's not a shadow, for a change."

The fox thought for a few seconds; then she smiled at the dog. "Sure." The smile came back, then he headed for a bed. "Are you going to sleep on top of those?"

"Yes, you're not?"

"Of course not." And the fox leaned back on the floor.

"Okay, but then…" Bolt went to another bed and took a blanket with his snout, pulled it and dragged it to the ground. Then he moved alongside Kia and accommodated it. "Better sleep here."

"Thanks," Kia rose from where he was and lay back on the blanket that Bolt had placed for her.

"Good night," said the can before going back to his bed. They both closed their eyes a few seconds apart and there was no more noise in the room.

* * *

"Good night, cat," said a rather sleepy Rhino.

Good night, rodent," Mittens lay on the mattress Bolt feeling unusually quiet. _Good night,_ _Bolt._

 _Mittens._

* * *

 **And that's about it. Thoughts on Kia's charactter? Thanks to everyone for reading, following, favoriting and everything. Spécial thanks to Basbon and his ever-present reviews, and to CanineScare, you too are making your reviews ever-present. Guess that's all I have to say right now, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	41. Jumps with perspective and a simple game

**Quick note, regarding the chapter's title. Time jumps, that's what we're talking about, time jumps with a P.O.V.**

* * *

Chapter 41: Jumps with perspective, and a simple game?

Bolt's P.O.V.

Okay, again. We've known Kia for about a week, and my life is pretty much a routine. I wake up, rather, she wakes me up, then we wait for the others, and by wait I mean she goes into their room and wakes them up as well. Then we have some breakfast; since she arrived I started to eat some dark energy mixed with my usual food. I don't know why, but I've felt stronger since then and I've almost stopped thinking… in the cat.

After breakfast we train for about an hour, two at the most. I have faced all of them ten times at least and the results of equal confrontations are usually the same; not with me, though. If they say something I have is "adaptability," because I tend to look closely at what they do, so if they defeat me one day somehow the next I already know how their strategy works and force them to change it. The mentor says that does them good. Kia has been the most difficult to defeat for me, since my strategy is usually defense and counterattack. It's not difficult; they are not very patient, and if I don't move in about twenty seconds they start attacking. Kia not, well, not quite. Since she's so fast, it has become very difficult for me to analyze her techniques, so I don't always have a proper defense for her attacks. Moreover, if she closes her eyes I already lost, because she only closes them when she's about to teleport. The problem is that she can disappear but not appear immediately; she has spent up to two minutes "lost", waiting for me to lower my guard to return and attack me where I least expect. Even so I have won a couple of times.

After training we all recharge energy. Interestingly, Kia eats no dark energy, but always remains with plain water and common food. I have taken both; it depends on how tired I am that day. Then I leave them for a while, and go down to see Penny. I do not know why, but she seems bipolar lately; one day she talks about how "evil and Machiavellian" the shadows are and the next she just wants to talk about anything. I've told her about our training, weather, Kia, the mentor, schedules for guards and some other things. I got Shade to increase his acceptance and let me stay half an hour with her. I usually go up when I get hungry, if the guards don't say "time's up" before that.

Then we spend some time, that's where things are not always the same; although almost always we play or just talk until it's time to eat. After the meal Bud and James usually disappear for an hour, little more, little less; Alex and Shade go down to what they called their lab and I am left with Kia. She is very cheerful and friendly, but she is also cunning, as the mentor said. It's also normal in her not to use all her strength or potential in combat, as if she didn't want to hurt anyone. She often talks to me in ways that make me blush, or she gets close to me. When that happens, I feel two things at once; one encourages me to let it happen and the other does exactly the opposite, as if I were not allowed to approach her too much. In fact, it's in those moments that I think the most about… Mittens. What's the connection? Gee, I don't know.

When the sun is already beginning to come down they call me in research to move, the so flattered, Soul's staff or hold it while they study it in different ways. It's a nuisance, what, can't they get some gloves or something to be able to touch the staff and leave me alone? The worst part are the headaches that I get after touching that thing; it always hurts me, some days more than others, besides that makes me think of wolves, cat, dogs, or any of them and, why not?, leaves me an unpleasant feeling in the mouth of my stomach, as if something weren't right. And now that I think about it, gloves for the shadows… gloves… mittens… ugh, whatever.

Finally we have dinner and then we go to sleep, "hit the sack" as the companion of our mentor, who hasn't appeared, would say. I say good night to the boys and go back to the room where I woke up; I say the same to Kia and I lie on my bed. I close my eyes and ask that the next day has something more interesting than the previous one, until now, with no luck.

Everything seems normal, and I don't understand, because I feel something strange, not like when I touch the staff; similar, but not the same. Something like a voice, deep down, screaming over and over again that something is wrong. And I can't ignore it, but Shade and Alex won't listen to me or answer my questions; Bud and James are in their world and Penny is not in her right mind right now; maybe you could talk to Mitt… to Kia! Why did I think of the cat first?! At this rate I'll ask someone to erase her name from the mind, to see if I stop thinking about her. Yeah, I guess I'll talk to Kia to see what she thinks.

Mittens' P.O.V.

Two and a half weeks since they took Bolt. It looks like an eternity. Things have become routine and quite boring, his absence is hitting, not only me, but all of us. A few days ago it was New Year and I would have liked to be with him to tell him how much I love him.

How is it working? I get up early, go down before Penny's mom leaves and purr a little for her, with the intention of making her feel better, at least one bit. She leaves, I have breakfast and wait for the rodent; meanwhile I think, usually in him, although I have also been thinking a lot about our journey, from beginning to end, and Soul is right; seeing it now, with another perspective, makes me think that if something hadn't been as it was we simply wouldn't be here.

When Rhino finishes breakfast we both go to train with the group. At this time Mega and Byte have talked a lot about love, especially after what he said a week and a half ago. Helang has meditated much more than usual and hardly talks to anyone; he seems… lost. Poor Peep has had "dates" with Flor and with Alpha about four or five times with each one by now, but if Bolt was innocent, then I don't know what Peep is, even more when he's very perceptive in everything else… males.

Delta has improved a lot and Beta is teaching him what she knows. Jonathan has also improved a lot; I think he already knows how to manipulate one of the elements, although we have not fought against each other, so I haven't seen him use it. Kass is alternating days and still spends time with Umbra and Lux; He is also teaching me Morse, "just in case." So far I can only ask for help, which consists of repeating three short and three long.

Rhino and I have focused a lot on training, and, I must say, the rodent is progressing very fast. He already has at least two other "functions" that he can give to his energy spheres when he needs them. I asked Mega and Byte to teach me how to give special attributes to my claws, but it's complicated. I started with an electric shock, which I had already seen that Mega used against Bolt when he woke up without memories, but my progress I could describe it as zero. They say that I would first have to master the element as such and then "mold" it to my personal preferences or what I intend to achieve. But I'm not giving up, and I will do it. For Bolt.

During the afternoon I go to the barn and meditate for a while, maybe an hour, while I wait for the two shadows, although, because of what they say, their group also fell into a routine and there is not much to report. They mention Kia a lot, which turned out to be the name of the fox that attacked us that day; they say that she flirts with Bolt, but that he doesn't do anything about it, nor to correspond, nor to stop her. I don't know what to think about it. Bud apologized to Kass for punching him and Rhino with the shadow for neutralizing it. You could say that we are almost friends. When they leave, I go back to meditate as much as I can before dinner time. Before the adults return from work, everyone goes home. The rodent usually enters and watches the television or meditates a little more. I eat dinner and I just go to sleep. I'm still sleeping on his bed, and his name is the last thing I say out loud before closing my eyes.

I've heard almost everyone in the group ask Soul for help, but he has just not appeared in quite a while. I don't think he left us, but I do believe we have to learn to do it without him; I doubt that he'll always be babysitting with all of us. Even this might be a test on his part, to see how we do without his support. Personally, I think I'm doing well, even if my progress is not visible yet. I'm sure it'll come out before we have to go get Bolt again.

Bolt's P.O.V.

There was nothing around me, everything was gray. In the distance a voice was heard, repeating the same words over and over again, although I could not clearly distinguish them. After a minute of that, I suddenly felt pain all over my body and how my breath was taking out of me.

"Who's Mittens?!" I opened my eyes and found Kia, who had jumped on me and had an annoyed expression on her face. Seconds later she repeated her question.

"K-Kia… I can't… can't breathe…" She got off me without removing that expression and stared at me. Then she repeated the question again, each time in a more aggressive tone. What's wrong with her? After catching my breath, I looked at her before she asked again. "Mittens is my ma… she's the black cat you saw when we met." Was I about to say what I think I was about to say? What the hell is wrong with me!? I tried my best to pretend I hadn't almost said something stupid and kept talking. "Why do you ask?"

Her expression got worse. Did I do something? "What do you mean 'why do you ask'? You were all night repeating that name and saying cheesy things after it."

"I did… _what_?" Man, I'm really going to therapy after this. At least I'm about to start the conversation I wanted to have, and exactly with whom I wanted to have it. Though… her eyes say 'run'. "N-No, I couldn't have… did I?" She nodded, her eyes blazing of anger into mine. "But that's not possible, if I hate her."

"If you _hate_ her so much, then why do you want to 'have kids with her', huh?" I'm not sure, but I think her eyes were beginning to water.

"Okay, okay, I couldn't have said that. I don't even know how puppies are born."

Her gaze changed a little; she still seemed mad, but now she looked incredulous too. "Really?"

"Really, I don't know. I didn't even know what Christmas or New Year was until a couple weeks ago!"

"What?" Well, at least her gaze didn't say 'run' anymore. "How's that possible?"

I took a deep breath, although it was true that thanks to my "accident" I was able to leave the dumb show and get into the real world, if it hadn't happened some black cat wouldn't have ruined my life either. "I… I lived several years inside a T.V. studio; I worked on a television show where my role was the one of a super-dog, so in order to keep my acting as real as possible, I wasn't allowed to leave, and everyone worked to make me believe what happened was real…"

I told her everything. I found it… interesting, she seemed to be living what I told her. She smiled, she frowned, she lowered her ears, she growled as I told her happy, sad, unpleasant or annoying parts of the story. I also told her what the cat had done to my memories, and that she had seduced me.

"So… you don't feel anything for the cat?" She asked at the end. I shook my head, but felt that thing again, deep down, telling me that something was wrong. However she did look much calmer when I finished.

I didn't say anything and just smiled for her to do the same; moments later I came up with a doubt. "What time is it, Kia?"

"Oh, it must be like three in the morning."

"What? Did you wake me at three in the morning?"

She looked down and began to play with her paws. "Well, it's just… you weren't letting me sleep with all your mumbling, so I woke you up, so I would at least know who were you talking about. Sorry."

"It doesn't matter." I couldn't help but yawn. "Do you mind if I go back to sleep?"

"Not at all." Whatever she had, it's gone now. Gee, females… so… what would be the word? Complicated? Mysterious? Incomprehensible?

I closed my eyes on the bed, still thinking of a word that would describe the females' way of being. I didn't find any and I fell asleep again thinking about it.

Mittens' P.O.V.

Another week; things are still the same around here; almost as if he were here. Soul still doesn't appear; Kass continues to teach me morse, we keep training and it seems looks like Peep "goes out" one day with Flor and the next with Alfa. Curiously, they aren't fighting over him. He follows them and meets their demands, he's very docile; however, I already realized that he meditates as much as he can. I would not be surprised if he had some super complex ability that he'll use some time as a surprise.

Finally I managed to electrify my claws, my next step is to be able to use them without having to concentrate so much, and, after that, achieve the same with some different quality. I also asked Soul's kids about thet thing Kass kept talking about, the thing I made when we almost got Bolt back; they called it "instant healing" and it appears to be an ability of mine… innate of me, and that I appeared when it was needed. They say that I have to work and polish it, that I could even develop something more. Also, after discussing it with each other, they told us that each of us had such a skill, which would be according to our personality or our qualities or characteristics; and it seems that the rodent's is the sphere of energy, and that is why it was so simple for him to develop that whenever it became necessary.

It's about three in the morning and I don't know why I'm awake, but I remember I was dreaming I had a family… with Bolt; however, for some reason, I woke up suddenly. I'm not sleepy, so I'll go down to the living room to do anything.

I was down for three or four hours before the rodent arrived; we followed the usual routine and went out to the garden after breakfast. First image: Mega and Byte discussing about love. What a surprise.

"No, no, no, you girl."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

Rhino didn't wait until they raised their voices more and intervened. "Now what is it?"

Mega looked at the rodent. "The girl here says there is something more powerful than love."

"Because there is."

"Is _not!_ "

"Don't start again." Then he looked at Byte. "Why do you say that?"

"Because Master said it."

"Liar!"

"Yes, he did; he told us that fear is the equivalent of love!"

"You just said girl, 'equivalent', not superior!"

"Stop it!" Helang called, just coming in. "Fear is equivalent in negative to what love is in positive. However none of them is a whole in what they apparently are."

"That is?"

Helang brought a paw to his face and held his beak with two of his fingers. He looked funny, mumbling things and trying to keep calm. "Man, what are we gonna do with you? Don't you pay attention? Look: love is the strongest positive force, like fear is the negative. But both have their ups and downs."

"Oh I see; fear was originally an instinct of survival that prevented problems by alerting whoever felt it."

"Right. The problem is when one is dominated by fear and becomes unable to move. The same with love; it can lead to compassion, understanding, appreciation. But think of a failed or wrong love."

"It… it provides the opposite; they might even hate each other."

"You see? Love is not the most powerful force there is,"

"Yes it is, girl. And I'll prove it to you."

"How?"

"Simple; love is so, but so powerful, that it is forbidden in both orders."

"What are you talking about now?"

"He's talking about the Jedi and Sith orders." Rhino getting into other people's conversations. "And he's right; it's prohibited in both."

"And what does that prove exactly?"

"That love can't be controlled, neither by the 'good' or by the 'bad'. I'll tell you what, girl; love is, in short, love. It doesn't happen twice in the same way. There are not two beings who feel it, who live it, who express it in the same way of another. If we tried to define it, we would die without having achieved anything, because each one defines it in its own way. It is not scientifically quantifiable, you can't bottle love, as you can't make a love bomb that when detonated heal the hatred and racism of those who affect."

"And you can do all those with fear?"

"Look, the last time I checked, nobody would be happy or excited to hear 'hey, there's a bomb in your yard'. So you can say that all the bombs are fear; as well as psychologically you can infuse fear into someone. Fear is scientifically quantifiable, love is not. The closest would be the need for procreation, but it is totally different from love; may be related, but not always. You could even say that you can fall in love with someone with chemicals, but it is not the same as it is by nature. So let's leave it undefined, but stating that it is the maximum that can be."

"Byte, he has the point this time." Helang told him in a tone that meant he would regret saying that seconds later.

"Yes!" Mega stuck his tongue out at Byte and she grimaced at him. Then he started to celebrate running and jumping in circles.

Shortly after, the others began to arrive and the first thing they asked was the reason for Mega's attitude.

"Sit down, I'll tell you why I'm so happy ..."

I wasn't going to hear it again, so I went to the barn and started to meditate a little. From there I could hear Kass saying something to others, half an hour later, on Umbra hiding in enemy lines soon, or something similar. I didn't let my curiosity win and stayed where I was; I would have the opportunity to ask questions later.

* * *

"You're very lucky I was in a good mood when you came. At no time did I give you permission to leave the base, the state, or the country; I made it very clear that we would return after the fourteenth of the following month."

"I know, sir; but I have news, and I would like to know what's with the fox I found on the way here."

"I sent her to the base."

"What?"

"What you heard."

"But, sir, she doesn't have a shadow in her mind."

"So what?"

"Nothing, sir. I thought it might make her unpredictable."

"I had a friend a few years ago; his name was Psyon, and he said he was nobody. I supported his little game of being nobody, and, in the process, I learned to predict things that seem unpredictable; I just have to see it as a simple game, a game of chess. Sometimes you make a move that seems to make no sense, but half an hour later that movement is fundamental to a victory."

"So you say that ...?"

"Certainly, I gave her a lot of information, and she has no shadow inside; but when this is over she won't need one."

"I do not understand, sir."

Centauri chuckled. "Of course not, after all, you're not seeing it as the game it is."

"It's a game?"

"Chess, as I said. Everything you see on the board is pieces, some more important than others, but all pieces in the end. Psyon said that love is the most powerful force of all, but like all strength and all currency, it has two sides."

"What?"

Centauri sighed, then took a deep breath. "I'll explain it to you in a way you understand. The puppy has a particular ability to…"

"How do you know about the dog?"

This time he burst out laughing. "You're pretty dumb for an elite shadow, aren't you? I created a Shade, I programmed him;" Centauri began raising his tone as he talked. "I know that it was his idea to modify the memories of the dog to make sympathize with you as I know that even though they worked they would never have completely suppressed his love for the cat, because I did it that way. Nothing they do is beyond my control; I know that the modifications are getting worn out, as a layer of cheap paint on a wall quickly falls down; I know that all four of them are being affected for spending time with Bolt, because of his luminosity; I know that Psyon is dead, as I know they have recovered his weapon. I know that no one in the organization but Bolt can touch that cane without suffering and I know that the contact of it with the dog accelerates the process of normalization of his memories. I know that when they corrupt the stick, I will become unstoppable and I know that I am soon to become the most powerful being in the world."

"S-S-Sir…"

"I know everything!" Then he calmed down again. "I'll explain this again for you to understand. The dog has a particular ability to make females fall in love with him, unconsciously. At first he succeeded with a cat, who is not even from the same animal family; his heart, 'pure', 'clean', or whatever you want to call it is the perfect way to conquer females and the idiot doesn't realize it. Consciously he has no mate right now, but his subconscious knows perfectly that he loves only the cat and will not allow him to get too close to another female. Kia ignores that, just as Bolt, so neither will know the reason for his attitude when she tries to start something with him. As love can be a formidable force for them, the heartbreak can be for us. With a broken heart anyone sinks into the darkness."

The elite shadow thought for several minutes, but he could not understand.

"I still don't…"

"Of course you do not understand; it's not in your programming. You are all my pieces, as Bolt is yours now; You're not useful if you think, you're useful if you obey."

"Hey, that's not…!"

"Thunderstrike." The shadow fell silent as soon as it heard the word and put on a neutral expression. "You see? I can control you with a simple word, as you do to Bolt; the funniest thing is that you won't remember anything I said, and you'll go back to the base. Now."

The shadow made no sound and began moving north. Centauri watched it leave and spoke to himself. "We'll return soon enough; let's play a bit more, and in a short time I'll be in position to say 'checkmate'."

* * *

 **Okay, so first of all, sorry. Missed last week's chapter... uh, I don't know if you knew, but I'm from Mexico and there was a damn strong earthquake just last week, pretty close to Mexico City. You can check for details on my profile, I'll update it to add a "Notification board", where I'll post things whenever necesary so you can know what's happening, and (when it happens) why I miss a chapter. Next, we're getting close to the best part of this, and I can't thank Basbon and ShadowScare enough for supporting me up to this point. Thanks, guys, and again, sorry for missing chapter last week. I'll create this notification board right after posting this chapter, so it should be there when you check it (if you want to, I mean) That's all I have to say right now, nos vemos luego.  
**


	42. Plans

Chapter 42: Plans

Being it mid-afternoon on January the 13th, a hooded figure was moving through the state of California. His pace was rushed and he mumbled things under his breath as he moved on. At one point he stopped on his feet and pulled off the hood, revealing a slightly distorted face with a pair of brown eyes, whose pupils glowed in an intense violet. He raised both hands, one in each direction, and screamed into the air: "It is time, sons of the darkness. Come to me, and follow my lead for the upcoming battle!"

Both hands began to glow in dark tones as the figure talked. Without losing that glow, the man smiled, placed his hood on again, and kept moving.

* * *

Kass appeared before the group, Umbra and Lux behind him. "It's time, guys. Umbra says that someone's calling every shadow to a specific location."

Mega jumped to his paws "Let's go and get our dog back, then."

"I didn't mean that, Mega," Kass stopped him gently. "First of all, the center of the call is moving, so we believe its Centauri, and that he's moving around to get more shadows to join him. Second, the plan is to get Umbra inside, just like Beta did for some time. He can then use Morse to tell us what's going on with Bolt and Penny, and maybe even help in ways Bud and James can't because of their programming.

Mega nodded thoughtfully, and no one else commented anything, so both specters left in silence.

"And why's Lux going too?"

"To cover Umbra's back, from a considerable distance. Very considerable," Kass explained. "Anyway, what are you guys up to?"

"We're actually resting a little."

"Nothing new?" Mega shook his head. "Right."

"Well, perhaps the fact that my sister's with Peep right now. And Flor's planning to go out with him tomorrow."

Kass looked at Delta in curiosity. "Is that so? And where do they even take him to?"

"No idea. But either they have a long list of places to visit, or they just go to the same ones. I don't know; however, he lets them guide him. They could go to an alley and play fetch there, and he would be happier than ever," Jonathan placed in.

"And has he said something to you?"

"He says that he likes the company of both, nothing else."

The afternoon ended slowly; by nightfall everyone was back home, and that included a young man entering an abandoned building.

"Told you," The elite shadow commented as soon as they all saw the newcomer. The training was interrupted and everyone looked at him. The man approached Bolt, never taking his gaze from the dog.

The white shepherd tried to hold his gaze without flinching as Centauri walked towards him. When the man stopped in front of him, Bolt bowed his head. "So it's true what you told me," He called to the elite shadow. "You recovered him. Well done."

The elite shadow scratched its head in confusion, but upon receiving a look from his companion, stopped and replied. "Er… right, sir. That's… that's exactly what I went to inform you."

"Then you left the building without even informing us,"

"I'm not your husband to be telling you every time I leave, or where I go, pea brain."

The mentor shadow just growled and mumbled something too low for anyone to hear.

"Very well. For having achieving so much without receiving orders of doing so, I'll reward all of you with more power," Centauri said as he looked at the two adult shadows and the four young ones. "As for you, Bolt, well, I don't think you need it. And, Kia, I want to talk to you later." They both nodded while the man walked out of the training room.

"Power!" The elite shadow celebrated as soon as they were alone. "About time!"

"Yeah, man, I needed a little more power!"

"The hell you do. You hadn't done one job right since… a long time ago."

"Shut up. I'd punch you, but I'm too excited about this."

"Maybe that's for the better," The elite shadow smiled darkly.

The scandal and celebration the shadows were making reached Centauri's ears as he walked down an aisle. He kept his pace, a wicked smile forming on his face. _Soon enough, my pieces… soon enough._

The man went to the building's roof, from where he continued his call for the shadows, releasing dark energy from both of his hands to call them to his position. "I'll soon have so many of them, nobody will be able to oppose me. And the dark energy is almost enough…"

Hundreds of shadows began to appear in the distance, some of them far enough to be only a black dot in the sky. Among all of them there was a special one, a shadow with six blue eyes and an extra finger in each hand. Further away, camouflaged, a light was watching his lifelong companion mingled among the other shadows, ready for an undercover mission.

"~~. ~~~ ~~~ ~.. / .~.. ..~ ~.~. ~.~ ~~..~~ / ~~ ~.~~ / ..~. .~. .. . ~. ~.."

".. ~ / .~~ .. .~.. .~.. / ~… . / ~~~ ~.~ .~ ~.~~"

"~~~ ..~. / ~.~. ~~~ ..~ .~. … . / .. ~ / .~~ .. .~.. .~.."

Both friends didn't talk after that. The shadow arrived to the building and the light left the place without being noticed. But before returning home, the specter notified Kass.

The cat was almost asleep, but he suddenly raised his head and whispered, "He's inside."

* * *

Night passed by quickly for the animal group. The shadows, on the other hand, had to organize all of the new recruits Centauri had brought to the building, Umbra in between them. Dawn arrived without that matter solved, so Bolt and Kia had the day off. The shepherd was looking forward spending some time with his friend, but she had an annoyed look on her face again, and wouldn't talk to him. And, no matter what he tried to do, she wouldn't leave her anger.

"I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong, Kia."

"You know _too well_ what's wrong," She retorted sharply.

"Why do they always say 'you know what's wrong'?" The dog asked in frustration. "I mean, if I knew what's wrong, I would be doing something about it. Let's try again. Did I do something that bothered you?"

"Why don't you ask 'your beautiful kitty', huh?"

"Oh, not again; we'd talked about this. I told you, I don't feel…" Bolt felt a pain in his chest that forced him to stop for a second. "anything for her. And I don't even know why that bothers you so much."

Kia seemed to explode in anger at the dog's obliviousness. "Why are you so dumb?!" She looked at him. "You know what? Forget it! I don't even know why… why I paid attention to you in the first place."

Without giving any chance to the confused shepherd to even ask a question, she ran off

"Kia!"

"Leave me alone!"

Kia ran, not stopping, not looking where she was going, not caring. She kept running until she couldn't hold it anymore and dropped to the floor, bursting in tears. She spent five, maybe ten minutes before a voice snapped her back to reality.

"Why those tears?"

She lifted her head and met Centauri, who was hooded and looking at her. "It's nothing," She said as calmly as she could and wiped away her tears.

"Sure, nothing. Well, goodbye then."

"Hey, wait! Shouldn't you, like… insist?"

"For what?" Centauri retorted. "If a girl, human or animal, doesn't want to say something, they won't, not even if the guy brings down the moon for her, so I'm not wasting my time. Also, I won't be kneeling down just for information that really doesn't have to do with me. You want to tell me what's wrong? Go ahead, but I'm not going to beg for it."

Kia blinked and fell in silence for a few seconds. This man was something. "C-Could we… talk somewhere else?"

Centauri made a gesture and guided her to his office. He opened the door, got into his old chair and waited for Kia to sit down on the one in front of his desk. "Well?"

Kia looked at her paws. "I… I think I'm starting to feel something for Bolt."

Centauri smiled subtly. "Alright. What else?"

While Kia was talking with Centauri about her emotional state, the shadows were back on the normal schedule, almost completely.

"What?! What do you mean I don't get any power?!"

"That's what the boss said, pea brain. Since I was the one to go look for him, I get the reward."

"That doesn't make any sense, the idea was Shade's and Alex's! At least they deserve something!"

"Orders are orders," The elite shadow shrugged, slightly amused for the situation. "Besides, you don't want that power. I'm now head of security in the building and it's likely I won't be on field missions again."

"But you _hate_ field missions!"

"But you don't, and neither do your little fellas."

The shadow felt something boiling inside. Boiling, burning, destroying, exploding, whatever, and it was about to express that feeling on the only candidate for that. "Well, you can take your power and stick it _right into your…!_ "

"Hey, guys, have you seen Kia?" Bolt interrupted.

The shadow got pulled back from its fury. "What?"

"Kia," Bolt repeated. "Have you seen her?"

"Oh, no I haven't. I actually thought she was with you."

"S-She was… until…" The dog shook his head. "Whatever. Thanks, guys."

"I think that dog's actually a hero," The elite shadow reasoned when they were alone again.

"Why?" The voice in the shadow's question made it clear. He was pissed.

"Because if you had finished that sentence, you wouldn't have lived to tell anyone about it." The elite shadow headed for the entrance. "Don't be sad, it was too much for you," It said as it left.

The shadow moved to and fro inside that room for a while, trying to think of anything until it came up with an idea. "Well… head of the building's security, huh?" The shadow smiled.

* * *

"Yeah, you're right. The responsible for this is the cat," Centauri assured his guest.

"So… Bolt _really_ doesn't feel anything for her?"

"As I said, there were certain things that we couldn't correct. Some of the memories from when she seduced him must still be there, confusing him; but we can't do anything to fix it." Kia lowered her ears to such news. Centauri smiled more. "Unless…"

"Unless what?" She asked immediately.

Centauri smiled even more, he was really liking the course of this conversation. "The modifications or alterations made to a mind are usually connected to the one who created them. That means this false memories are attached to the cat herself, so in order to eliminate those memories…"

"I have to eliminate the cat," Kia finished with a new expression on her face; a dark expression.

"That's right, young fox. Clever as always, but you must be careful. If those memories are still inside your beloved dog's memories, the cat could influence him again, and turn him against us."

"That won't happen, I'll make sure of it." Kia bowed her head in thanks and headed for the door.

"Kia," Centauri's voice stopped her. "Don't tell Bolt about this; it could awaken those false memories I mentioned." The she-fox nodded and left without looking back. The man stayed where he was, smiling like there was no tomorrow.

* * *

"So, yeah, certainly the boss is back," James commented. He and Bud were giving the news to the animal team. "He said he would reward us for what we did, but he only gave the reward to our mentor's…"

"What's wrong, buddy?"

The shadow opened its eyes in alarm. "Bud, we have to get the hell out of here. _Now!_ "

"B-But why?"

"No time, Mittens," James asked quickly as he sank into the ground, followed closely by Bud. Both of them were gone in seconds.

"What was that for?"

No answer for the question, nobody would know it.

"Maybe… that's why." Delta pointed with a paw into the distance. Everyone turned their gazes into the direction and found nothing more and nothing less than a…

"Shadow!" Mega was the first one to jump into attack position. However, when close, the shadow raised its hands in a sign of surrender… or something like that. "What do you want?" The wolf asked, not worrying to keep his annoyance hidden.

"I want to make a deal with you," The shadow smiled, and received a silence for an answer; no one knew how to respond such a proposal. "But before that, I want to make it clear that I don't like you; but since you claim to be guardians of justice…"

"Actually, justice is a concept defined by whoever's trying to apply it."

"Trust me, wolf, I don't care." Mega growled at the comment. "So, I don't like you, and you don't like me, but there's something we can do to achieve a win-win situation."

Mega was about to respond, but Helang intervened. "What do you want, and what can you offer to us?"

"It's pretty simple," The shadow said. "You'll only get what I'm offering if you comply with what I'm about to ask, since they're part of the same thing."

"And that would be?"

"I want you to break into our base. In return, I'll make it easier for you to get the dog back."

Everyone in the group exclaimed, each in a unique way. It took several minutes to get silence again. "Why do you want something like that?" The hawk asked.

"Boss has just rewarded my partner for taking the puppy away from you and from modifying his memories. Funny part, he did none of those things, and those who did work received nothing. He's now head of the building's security; if someone bursts into our place and takes something important, he'll lose his status and his power."

"You're doing this for revenge?"

"I'm a shadow, dog. Besides, I thought you could be interested in getting Bolt back."

"We'll do it," Mittens agreed without even asking the rest.

"Woa, wait a second there," Helang turned to the shadow. "Give us a moment," The hawk turned tail to the shadow and lowered his voice. "Mittens, it's a shadow."

"So what? Bud and James are, too."

"But they're not our friends; they're doing it for Bolt, and have never made such an offer to us."

"But we're winning anyway here," The she-cat reasoned. "We'll find out where their base is, and how to get there, and we could even get Bolt back. Everything could end if we do this right."

No one could deny her words. After a minute, Helang turned to the shadow. "You're guiding us to your base, we burst in and make noise to get your partner loses his power, and in return, how are you making it easier for us to get Bolt?"

"I'll tell my students to send him against you alone, like if it were a test. It'll be easier to beat him and bring him back, and then you can fix his memories. Win-win."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Mega asked.

The shadow smirked. "You can't. But you don't have a choice either." The specter stretched out a hand. "Is it a deal?"

The hawk looked at the dark hand for a moment, and then shook it with his paw. "Deal."

"Alright. You go and eat early tomorrow; I'll come here at mealtime for you, the guards will be resting too, and it'll be easier." The shadow didn't wait for an answer and turned around. "I won't wait, so be punctual," It added as it left.

"So be it, then."

They all waited in silence until the shadow had left. "What have we just done?"

"What we had to, Mega?" Helang told him.

"He won't keep his word."

"Probably not, but Mittens is right. We'll win something juts by knowing where their base is. If the shadow does half what it promised, we could even get Bolt back."

"Then we'll go."

"Yes, we will."

* * *

Bolt was lying on his bed, thinking about whatever came to his mind. Kia entered the room in silence and walked towards him.

"Hi," She said softly. Her anger had been replaced for compassion, for she now knew that the cat was to blame for everything.

The dog lifted his head. "Hi, Kia,"

"I…" The she-fox hesitated at Bolt's unmoving look. "I'm sorry about what happened today. I know it's not your fault, b-but I can't help it when you mention the cat."

Bolt stood up and walked towards her. "It's okay, it was nothing." He kept silent for a moment and then asked. "But why does it hurt you so much?"

Kia blushed. A lot.

"I… I… er…"

"Okay, okay," Bolt stepped back a little. "If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to." The dog jumped to his bed once more.

"Bolt, I…" When the dog turned to see her, Kia moved quickly and kissed him. The shepherd stood still in impression for a few seconds, but then he stepped back abruptly. "What is it?" She asked.

"I-I don't know… I feel like it's not right. You pretty and cool and everything, b-but I think of you as… as a friend."

"Yeah, and I know exactly why," Kia's gaze turned darker. "That stupid cat," She muttered under her breath.

"I'm sorry," Bolt told her. However he did nothing more and went to sleep.

"Don't worry, my little doggy. I'll get rid of her" –She kept lowering her voice until it was just a whisper– "And we'll be happy together then."

Night flew by, and the early morning too. Bolt and Kia kept a distance, this last one using her anger in training. Mittens, Rhino, Helang, Mega and Byte made a plan A, B, C, D, and so on for this attack. When the whole group met, the hawk made an announcement that displeased most of them.

"What do you mean, that we can't go?!" The three Labrador siblings asked at once.

"I'm sorry, guys; neither you, or Peep, or Flor…"

"It's for your safety, guys," Rhino interrupted.

The peregrine falcon sighed. "Neither you, Rhino."

"What?!"

Helang shook his head. "It'll be just us three, Johnathan, Kass…"

"And me, because for starters, it was my idea," Mittens added, not willing to step one bit.

"Of course you're coming, Mittens," Byte said before Helang could answer her.

"Fine, but only Mittens. The rest of you, stay here."

Dissatisfaction and complains came from everyone Helang had forbidden from the mission. "Guys, do you trust me?" Ha sked after moving his wings for silence.

"Yes," was the unanimous and half-mad answer.

"Then, trust me. Please."

"As Rhino said, it's for your security. Sorry, guys."

"But you'll need our help," Beta complained.

"I know." Helang's answer was an end to the discussion, and the hawk gave nothing more away. "I want you guys to hide when the shadow comes for us."

Peep walked towards Helang and touched his head with a paw. "I… I trust you."

That was all that was needed. The rest of them, one by one, accepted the reality: they were staying behind. Rhino was the last one to comment on the matter.

"Don't face any villains without me."

"We won't. Bolt's not a villain, and he's the only one we're going to get."

Mega looked at Rhino. "Yes, buddy. I'll save Centauri for your super-strength."

The hamster smiled and nodded. "Good."

The group split in two. Those going stayed outside, and the rest went back inside the barn, where talking began.

"I don't agree on staying here and doing nothing while they go have fun."

"I know, anything could happen to them and they could need help."

"They promised Centauri was mine, so…"

Peep started to chuckle, to everyone's surprise. "You're not… looking at the whole picture… if you won't trust… Helang, then trust me. It will work out… just… fine. We hide… for now… the rest will come soon."

No one objected.

* * *

"Why's Rhino not coming? He has made a lot of progress."

"Everyone has, Mega. They're not staying behind because of that. We'll talk it later… Everyone ate something?" They all nodded. "Great."

A few minutes later the shadow appeared in the distance.

"This is gonna be hell."

"Of course it will."

"We're coming, Bolt," Mittens whispered.

* * *

The dog raised his head and ears, and stared at a wall, apparently lost in thoughts.

 _They're coming._

* * *

 **Hey there. I'm sorry, this time it was my fault. You see, the chapter was done since like wednesday, but I forgot I still had to _upload_ it, heh, so it was a _lapsus brutus._ Okay, you know how this works, thanks to everyone that reads, special thanks to Basbon and ShadowScare, and see you in a week. (If I don't screw up again) That's allI have to say, nos vemos luego!  
**


	43. Into the shadow base

Chapter 43: Into the shadow base

We're on our way to the shadow's base; we've been walking for about fifteen minutes and nobody says anything. The shadow appeared, said nothing, and just began to move away as soon as we were ready. I'm not sure what to expect, not only because of the shadow, but because of Bolt, or that… Kia, the fox. Besides, Centauri called a lot of shadows to him just a little ago, didn't he? Won't that make the place even more dangerous for us? I talked with Mega and Byte, they said we'll get Penny first and then wait for him. According to Helang, sent or not, Bolt will come for us, or rather, for me.

 **They're coming, I can feel them. Both wolves, the falcon and the dog and cat, too. But I don't care about them…** _ **she**_ **is coming too, that's my only concern. I don't know how I knew they're coming, I just do, and I'm ready. I've got a plan, and I'll do it alone; I have to. I'll kill** _ **that**_ **cat first. When I finish her, I'll help my companions with the rest. Kia's got me worried, since that kiss… she… she just became… uh, what would be the word? Unstable? Maybe I was too rough when I rejected her like that, but it was involuntary. I hope I can help her; although as a friend, I do like her a lot and I don't like seeing her like this. She's hasn't even talked to me. Maybe I could… they're here.**

"The entrance is there," The shadow said moving a hand in direction to a building's door. A very imposing and apparently abandoned building, which entrance was the door… logical, I guess. "You're alone from now on. I won't tell you anything, you have to find them yourselves."

The shadow faded in the air as those words got into my ears. We kept a small silence before Helang cleared his throat.

"Ready?"

"Let's do it," The twins said at a time. Jonathan and Kass nodded in agreement.

I nodded too, and Helang nodded back at me. "Let's get going, then,"

We entered the building through the door, as if it were our home. Like the shadow had said, there were no guards… no alarms, no cameras, no… no anything. "Uh… guys? I feel something's not right."

"I hope it's not premonition," Mega told me, looking around. "Because that would mean trouble."

"Hush, we have to find out were Penny's being kept," Helang whispered.

Without wasting more time, we passed another door and found ourselves in a corridor that led to another and another. Stairs here, stairs there, more corridors, yada, yada. Finally we found two guards in front of a door. Mega and Byte knocked them out without them even realizing what was happening. We opened the door and found some kind of cellar with lots of shelves. There were weapons, armors, even animals and one or two humans, all of them apparently asleep.

"There's nothing here," Byte murmured from the other end of the room. "Well, nothing of our interest."

"Hey, look, a computer."

"Mega, get away from it." Too late, the wolf was already touching and pressing here and there with both paws.

"Leave that, you'll get us into trouble," Helang warned. The wolf, amazingly, ignored the order. He seemed concentrated, frowning a little and typing on the keyboard, moving the mouse to and fro and clicking once or twice every ten seconds or so.

"This… here… that, there… and…" Some blueprints appeared in the screen. "Voilà!"

"And since when do you know how to operate this things?"

"Well… since about… two minutes," The wolf chuckled. "Maybe I could start a shop, or make business with this."

"Save it for later," Helang moved to the monitor and pointed somewhere. "There. Three floors above us, second hall to the left. There's a small prison there. Apparently where the last prisoner movement took place."

"Let's go then."

We left the room quietly and placed the guards inside. We reached a staircase and began to ascend in the building's floors. When we got to the next floor, however, something caught my eye. Unable to help it, I followed that… whatever it was… I didn't even know what was it, but it was leading me to…

 **One of the training rooms; I knew the cat would probably come after me, I just had to get her attention. I wasn't difficult, you know, "curiosity killed the cat". I just had to run past her and hide, then run some more when she was catching up, hide again and repeat. That was until I reached one of the advanced training rooms and hid behind a pile of building materials, which were probably for modifications. I just waited for her to get close enough.**

" **Mittens, what are you doing over there?" Damn it. It was Mega's voice. I peeked and saw her turning to see him. She was *this* close! "Something wrong?"**

" **I-I don't know, I… I thought I saw something."**

" **Something like what?" The bird asked.**

" **Something like me!" I screamed as I leapt out of my hiding place and tackled the cat. It was perfectly calculated, we both rolled into the training room and I quickly ran to the door and activated the door to close. Those training rooms had a door with a metal frame and very thick glass, like the anti-bullet class. Now I was alone with the cat, and the other three were outside, and they could do nothing more than watch.**

When I recovered from the blow, I saw a closed door. Glass, but I knew they wouldn't make them from glass if it weren't strong enough. From the corner of my eye I saw Bolt, staring at me as he stretched for something. I ran to the door. "Give us a minute, Mittens, we'll get you out of there!" Mega ordered from the other side.

"There's not…!"

"There's nothing you can do," Bolt interrupted. "This is between her and me, like it should've been from the beginning."

I looked at him for some seconds, and then at the door. "You go for Penny, guys. I'll fight him."

"What?! Of course no!"

"Go!" They started to think about it. "Go, I can handle this!" Not very convinced, they nodded and left us alone. When I saw Bolt, his gaze was of total hatred.

"You will not take her away from me, too! They're going to fix her and you're not stopping them!"

"Before that," –I breathed deeply. This was it; I had to defeat him to get him back. He wasn't about to restrain himself, so I would have to fight just as ferociously to make things even– "you'll have to beat me."

He chuckled darkly. I guessed my provocation wasn't that natural. "Oh, but I'm not the one who'll stop them. Shade, we have intruders!"

The shadow's voice became audible in the room. _"Where, Bolt?"_

"I'm handling the cat, but the wolves and the hawk went for Penny." _Handling? I'm not to be 'handled'! I'm your mate, you silly dog!_

" _Roger that."_

He walked one or two steps towards me. His face… it was as close as it could be to the one he used on me when he was himself. "Mittens, it doesn't have to be this way. If you leave now, I'll…"

" _Listen to me, Bolt. Play. Attack. Destruction. Fight."_

His eyes widened, and he started to growl. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, snarling. When he looked back at me, he wasn't himself any more. They had done something to him.

"Very well, let's play, cat." As if his voice had made a command, as soon as that sentence was said the room was turned on. The lights, the training mechanism, everything. Seconds later an alarm sounded. "I think your friends won't like the company I sent."

"Bolt, wake up. Please. Come with me, let's go home," I asked, almost kneeling. I didn't want to fight him.

His expression calmed down a little, but then a roar was heard throughout the room. _"Kill her!"_

He seemed to lose control of his body and charged towards me. I closed my eyes and waited until he had almost reached me to jump with a speed I had never reached before. I jumped over him and landed behind his tail.

 **She was very fast. I didn't even got the chance to know where she was for a few seconds. I turned around to face her once more, and once more charged towards her. This time, however, I began to try and scratch her alternating both paws. She dodged nimbly, but I was cornering her against a wall. If I managed to…**

" **I'm sorry."**

 **She suddenly gave me a head-butt straight into my chest, throwing me backwards. She landed on top of me and quickly got out of my reach.**

" **Bolt!" I heard a gasp. It was Kia, standing right outside the door, trying to open it. "I'm coming!"**

" **No! I'll take care of her!"**

 **Her eyes widened in surprise by my response, and then the surprise turned into fear. "Watch out!"**

 **Instinctively I rolled a couple of times on the ground, moving a few feet from my spot. Then I heard a loud noise. "You wanted to hit me with _that?_ " I asked incredulously. The cat was holding a damned _baseball bat_!**

" **Just like in the truck, wags. Besides, if they have it here it must be for some reason." Her response was sarcastic, but she didn't seem happy. If Kia hadn't warned me, I would be knocked out by now, and probably that made her mad. She let go of her weapon, which was a smart move. I mean, it was heavy for her, and she wouldn't have achieved anything trying to hit me again now that I knew she was capable of that.**

 **I shook my head and charged towards her again. I had to get some of her moves before starting the real fight, and pretending to be dumb, just charging and tackling, could help me with that. This time she ran towards me, too. As soon as we were close enough, she slipped underneath me and clawed both of my forelegs. I couldn't help yowl a little, and she muttered "Sorry," as she got away from me again.**

" **Very well," I said, trying to control the pain in my legs. "We're serious now."**

* * *

"I've got eighteen!"

"I've got twenty, girl!"

"Can you stop counting the shadows you vanquish?" Helang scolded as he clawed two at a time. The three of them where fighting every shadow that had appeared since Bolt's warning.

"They're too many!"

"We'll have to get them all!"

Two shadows rose from the floor and grabbed Mega's legs. "They've got me!" The wolf tried to snap at them, but three more got to him and grabbed his snout. More and more were getting at him, and Mega soon got lost underneath a mass of shadows.

"Mega!" Helang stepped in and charged into his companion's oppressors. He shot energy from a distance, and when he got close enough he used his sharp claws and sank them into two of the shadows, which, yowling in pain, dissolved into the air. Before the rest of them did anything, the hawk opened its beak and shot a beam of light, forcing most of the shadows to disappear. "You okay?"

"You could've done that from beginning," The wolf answered, half joking half serious.

"Yeah, but you wanted to play for a while, didn't you?"

"Yes, but not this kind of game."

"Are you two done?" Byte intervened. "Are we getting the girl or what?"

"Let's go get the girl, girl." Mega chuckled at his own sentence.

The three of them kept moving, quickly and not caring anymore about making noise. "By the way, where are Kass and Jonathan?"

"They're not here?" Helang looked all around them. Indeed, they were nowhere to be seen.

"No. And now that you mention it, I haven't actually seen them since we entered this place."

"Great," The hawk exclaimed sarcastically. "Let's get the girl and see what to do from there."

The three of them entered the cell section and began searching. It took no more than a minute before finding the right cell –the only one with someone in it. "Penny!"

The girl jumped at her name and looked at the bars. "Mega?"

"We came to get you out of here!"

"How?" She questioned.

The wolf jumped to his hind paws and reached for the doors lock. "I'll burn it." Then he placed his mouth nearby the lock and breathed fire until it melted slowly.

"Well, who would have said it."

Mega walked away from the door. "You're free."

Penny pushed the cell door open without trouble. "Great, thanks. Now let's go get Bolt."

"No," Helang said firmly.

"What?"

"You're leaving. Right now. We'll go get Bolt."

"Of course not, it's my dog," The girl argued. "I'm coming."

"No."

"Yes, I am."

"No."

"Yes, I am."

"No."

"Hey!" Jonathan's voice sounded nearby. The dog had Kass over his back.

"The hell have you been?"

"Getting information… from Umbra," Kass panted. They both were agitated.

"And why those faces?"

"Because we have company." Kass jumped from the dog's back to close the door firmly as the other one answered.

"You led them here? Great, we're never getting out."

Someone banged on the other side. "Open the door!"

"We're doomed."

"Not quite, Mega." Helang began to observe carefully the room. "There," He said pointed to a ventilation duct.

"Well, what a cliché."

"Not now, Mega," The hawk turned to Penny. "We'll distract them. You get in that duct and out of here."

"I'm not," She raised her voice.

"Penny, please. We need you to be safe, you're not thinking about your mother, she…"

"Is she bad?"

"She's been like crazy looking for you and Bolt. She _has_ to know you're okay. If you go now, you'll get home safe; if you stay here, well…"

"You go home too, but you'll be tired and hurt, and that'll worry her more," Byte interrupted.

The girl stopped and thought for a second or two. "Okay," She sighed and then pet Helang's head. "But promise me you'll come back."

"We will, little girl."

"Open this door!" They began to bang the door from the outside.

"Mega, Jonathan, Kass, get to the door. Byte, help me open the duct.

"What about you?" The wolf questioned. The hawk ignored him, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Right."

"What's he doing?"

"Preparing for battle; no time to explain, you have to get out of here." Byte used her claws to open the ventilation duct, where the girl barely fit. "Find the way out and go home, Penny. Don't worry about us."

"Okay. I'll wait for you." The girl entered the duct crawling and got swallowed by the dark of it."

"She's gone," Byte informed.

"Alright. Now come here and get ready to fight. This is gonna get ugly."

* * *

 **She's not fighting with all her strength, it's evident. She hasn't bit me, and doesn't even scratch or punch as hard as she could. Why? Moreover, I'm not concentrating as I should. I have missed many opportunities to attack her and my head hurts more and more every minute.**

He's fighting himself, he's struggling. I have had to punch and scratch him to wear him out, especially on his legs, but I only do so in defense. He managed to bite me a while ago, in the shoulder; but he released me almost immediately, I guess because of the same reason. Kia is still out there, telling him what I do when he's not looking. I've heard her complain and ask herself something. Apparently she's capable of teleporting, but she hasn't managed to do it right when she needs it the most. We're both getting tired, and the training mechanism is still working. If one of us falls into the circuit…

 **I catched my breath for the third time; she would always give me time to do so, and wouldn't attack if I didn't do it first. She was distracted, watching the training circuit. Someone had turned it on when this started, but it was just wasting energy, no one was using it.**

 **I shook my head and concentrated. She was still was distracted, Moving carefully, I approached her with the greatest stealth and speed I had. Bad luck. Clumsily, I tripped just a few feet from her. With what, if there was nothing for me to trip over with? It could have only been my own paw…**

I turned around and found him lying on the floor. He jumped back to his paws and snarled at me before he attacked. I quickly got out of his way and let him fall to the floor again. And again, I tried to wake him up. "Bolt, listen to me…"

"I don't want to know," He snapped at me. However his voice was a lot calmer than at the beginning, like if he were running out of anger.

He stood up once more and once more attacked. This time I couldn't move away and we both rolled on the ground, getting separated in the process. I shook my head and stood up fast, nearly as fast as him.

 **I was getting tired, the claw marks on my legs burned when I moved too quickly. She walked away from me, approaching that small cliff again. I didn't think about it and tackled her from behind, throwing her into the training circuit , but me too. I fell in a moving band, like those humans use for exercise, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that, as an advanced training room, there were obstacles, dangers and traps everywhere. _You're a genius, Bolt,_ I scolded myself. **

I tried my best to get out of there. I don't know how rough shadow training is, but looking at that, I could only guess it was very rough. I saw Bolt running over a moving band while dodging everything the circuit threw at him. I fell further down into the circuit because of his tackle, but I wasn't safe either. As I looked for a way out of there I saw a sign on the wall next to me. " _Speed practice. Unstable ground. Instructions: Run" Oh, great._

The ground below me began to crack. I quickly looked towards the end of that part and ran without caring. As I did, the ground behind me began to fall apart, leading me to think how costly would this be for the shadows? I mean, having to replace it every time someone used it. I reached the 'goal' a few seconds before the ground collapsed completely.

 **She was distracted again. I had just gotten out of that stupid band, I almost died. They shot me with arrows and darts! Why is that even a thing?! As I was managing to get out I saw Mittens running with the ground collapsing right behind her. I took a decision. I would lunge at her and push her into that oblivion.**

 **I started to stalk her from behind, she was still looking down into the darkness. Being close, perhaps too much, I jumped on her; somehow she noticed beforehand and ducked. I flew past her and was barely able to get a hold of the edge. Below me there was a black void, leading who-knows-where.**

 **I thought I was a goner, my legs were getting tired of holding me and I began to slip. I looked down and saw the void once more. I closed my eyes as I began to feel my tired legs fail me.**

" **Bolt!" A paw took hold of me. I opened my eyes and found nothing more and nothing less than the cat, the cat trying to pull me up. "I need you to cooperate! I can't lift you by myself!" She ordered. Why would she do something like that?**

" ** _It's a trap, Bolt. As soon as you're up there she'll have you where she wants you."_**

 **I have no idea how Shade knew what was happening, but his voice reminded me who I was facing. She had everyone under her control; even Penny. I involuntary growled. "Let go."**

"What?" I didn't know they had deleted his common sense along with his memories. "In case you didn't notice, there's a _void_ underneath you, dog!"

"I rather be there than with you!" What? Seriously? But what in the world did they make him believe I did?! Who prefers to fall to their death rather than being pulled up to safety?

Bolt stopped trying to get up, making his weight a lot harder for me to hold. I didn't let go of him, so I began to slip over to the edge. Finally, since I couldn't hold him anymore, I let go of him. I don't know if the rest is funny, or just stupid. I saw him fall about seven feet before hitting a floor, a floor that someone had painted to look like a void. I managed to listen to him curse and swear in between mutters.

He stopped after a few minutes and stared looking for a way out. I did the same. I found something that looked like a handrail, like the ones kids use in parks. Its highest point almost reached the edge from where I had fallen with him. I could jump back up from there.

 **I found nothing. So I decided to jump back up. Summoning all of my energy and getting as back away as I could, I ran towards that edge and jumped. I managed to get a hold with my fore paws and from there I pulled myself up, panting. Once there, I searched for Mittens with my sight. She was no longer there.**

 **Observing carefully I found a staircase, _"For wounded"_ it said on a sign next to it. _Of course there will be wounded with everything they placed on this bloody circuit!_ However, it would be useful. I stood up, feeling the pain again, and began to walk towards it.**

I saw him use the stairs to get back to where I was. I don't know how I didn't notice it myself. When he finally got back up, I tried talking to him again; he was tired, and so was I.

"Bolt, listen to me…"

"No," He said as firmly as he could.

"Oh, Bolt, this is all my fault. I failed you," I told him, trying not to cry. It did was my fault, just because I couldn't see what was in front of me, I became a burden for him.

He seemed to be still catching his breath. "I should have never heard… anything you said!"

"Bolt, those shadows are evil!"

"From my point of view, you all are!"

"Then you _are_ lost!"

Bolt lost it again and ran towards me. I got a flash-like premonition that told me exactly what he was going to do. Being about a feet away from me he stopped dead, closed his paw as much as he could, turning it almost into a fist and tried to give me a blow. In a way that I can't explain, I managed to stop his fist with my own paw. That made him lose it more, and he tried to do the same with his other paw, and I intercepted it again.

We were both standing in our hind paws, my front paws holding his, trying to stop him from attacking me. Without leaving that position, Bolt started to walk, pushing me. I tried to push back, but he was way stronger, so he kept moving, though a little bit slower. I looked behind me and gasped. He was trying to push me back into the circuit, which was moving way faster and harder. I wouldn't get out of there in one piece, and if I were to, Bolt would crush me as soon as I got back to the platform.

I don't know where the strength came from, but being just over the edge I managed to take an impulse and throw Bolt back into the floor, me landing over him, but it wasn't just like that.

 **I suddenly remembered this kind of move. Using her own strength against her, I pushed harder and ended up on top of her. I quickly used my weight to immobilize her under my paws. Luckily it worked, because I had almost no energy left.**

" **Yes!" I heard Kia from the other side of the glass door.**

" ** _Well done, Bolt. Now kill her."_**

 **I looked down at her, her shocked eyes, helpless, vulnerable. They were even beginning to water. She swallowed hard and then smiled. _Uh, oh._**

As fast and strong as I could, I pushed him with my hind legs and then jumped on him. He probably could've thrown me away like a plush or something, but I could feel the weariness in all of his body.

"No!" Kia again, I had almost forgotten about her.

Resigned, annoyed, he looked away from me. "Yeah, go ahead and kill me," He growled.

"Look me in the eye," I told him.

"No. You're about to kill me, I think that's enough humiliation."

I thought of something to make him look at me. "If you look me in the eye, I'll do it quickly and without complications."

" **Really?" I asked. I mean, I had no energy at all left. It was the least she could do.**

" **Really," She promised. I didn't trust her after all, but it was better than nothing.**

" **No, Bolt! You have to fight!" Kia's voice was breaking. "You should've let me in with you…"**

 **I couldn't change anything now. I sighed resigned and looked into her eyes. Those… bright emerald-green eyes, in front of mine… deep, big…**

 **I shook my head and closed my eyes.**

"I've done my part, now kill me," He ordered. He wasn't moving; he had given up. I looked at the glass, Kia was on the floor, her cheeks humid with tears. _Did she fall in love with Bolt?_

I blinked and got my attention back to what mattered. "Here I go,"

" **Whatever." I had lost the most important battle of my life, I didn't need her to enjoy my suffering like this. She took a deep breath. She had been waiting for this for a long time, I could tell. I pressed my eyes hard, waiting for the final blow, but the next thing I felt was something warm over my lips.**

I kissed him. I kissed him as I hadn't done in months. I felt him resist for a few seconds, like I resisted when he kissed me in the alley. Slowly, he stopped and let me kiss him as much as I wanted. I did for a minute before letting go of the kiss

 **Now everything makes sense. The shadows, the attack, the memories, how could I be so stupid? And Mittens, she…**

 **I opened my eyes, and there she was, smiling at me. I smiled back.**

 **Without warning, I kissed her back.**

* * *

Neither of them said anything after the second kiss. Bolt smiled again and held her with all the love he could gather. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear.

It was a perfect moment for both of them; but there was someone else there.

"No!" Kia's expression exploded into one of hatred, without totally leaving the sadness. "Damn it!" With a strength and determination she had never found before, she disappeared in the air.

Bolt felt her movement. "Oh, no." He pulled away from Mittens and ran as fast as his tired body could to the control panel of the door. "We have to leave, Mittens."

She didn't ask and merely ran towards him. But a fast blur tackled her from one side, sending her to the floor and then punching her again.

"Mittens!" Bolt left the door, already open, and went for the cat.

"You spoiled my Bolt!" The she-fox screamed as she moved towards them.

"Kia, listen to me. That wasn't me, okay? All this time it were the shadows, they had my memories altered. They're the evil ones."

She didn't change her expression. "Again? You came here and got control of his poor mind again?"

Bolt wasn't giving up. "Kia, please, whatever Centauri told you was a lie. The shadows are trying to get the world into darkness. We're stopping them. Mittens is not a monster," He lowered his head for a second, distressed by his words and actions towards the cat. Then he looked in Kia's eyes. "And neither are you."

Kia couldn't look at him and lowered her head for a few seconds. She was thinking, and when she raised her head again, she saw Bolt helping Mittens get up. In an outburst of anger, she lunged at them, making both roll into different directions. "I don't care what you say! The cat is controlling you!"

"No, Kia. In fact, it's Centauri who is trying to manipulate you; don't let him," He replied as he stood up again, his legs trembling and aching.

"I don't believe you. I don't believe you!" Her anger was doing nothing more than increase. Kia punched Bolt, making him fall again, and turned to see Mittens, her eyes blazing in hate and loath. "I will kill you, I will kill you! And he'll become the same he was before!" The fox, knowing she had all the cards to win, began to walk towards a cornered and tired Mittens. Her eyes glowed, much like Centauri's, and she enjoyed watching her victim retreat slowly and clumsily towards the wall.

* * *

 **Well? How was it? How did you find the double P.O.V. wiht bold and not bold? Where getting to the best part, and from here, we're aiming for the "end". And by "end" I mean the next 20 chapters, heh. Whatever. Anyway, special thanks to Basbon with his ever-present reviews, and thanks to everyone for everything. I guess I don't have anything else to say, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	44. Half in, half out

Chapter 44: Half in, half out

"While we're young, Helang!"

The hawk didn't answer; he was still with his eyes closed, breathing deeply.

Another bang was heard on the door, but this one left a mark on it. "I don't know what the hell that is, but it's _big_."

"Okay," Helang opened his eyes. "Kass, John, you two go forward. Mega, Byte, cover them from range. Buy me as long as you can."

"Yep, we'll do it." Mega began to think. "So… there must be at least like thirty, plus the big one that's…"

Another bang interrupted him, leaving another mark on the door.

"That's doing that. How are we even going to survive?"

"Just buy me time."

"Fine. I'll change the question." The wolf looked at the door. "Why aren't they coming underneath it?"

"Centauri has the building blocked somehow," Kass explained. "In here, shadows are like physical beings, they can't go through walls or sink into the ground."

"That gives us an advantage, for small it may be. That part of the corridor is narrow, they'll have to come in in smaller groups, so we'll beat them as they come through."

"What about the big one?" Byte asked.

"Just get enough time," The falcon repeated, eyes still closed.

"Fine, Mega and I will cover you from here then." Byte took a deep breath once and her fur turned whitish.

"As my little sister said." Mega did the same, but his fur turned purple.

"Then we'll take them directly, using claws and teeth."

The cat nodded at Jonathan's statement and they both got ready.

Seconds after a silence formed, the door received a third mark. Then another one. And then it broke, letting three shadows in at once, with some more trying to get inside. Without giving them time to plan anything, both cat and dog knocked them out. Before the ones behind those could try and hurt Jonathan or Kass, Mega and Byte shot electricity and light respectively to the shadows that remained.

The cat peered through the hole in the door. "Uh, guys? Do you remember the big guy we were just talking about?"

"Yeah."

"It doesn't exist."

"What?"

"Yeah, there's nothing out here; those we beat were the only ones."

"Really?" Helang opened his eyes, clearly confused. "Why couldn't I feel them?"

"Whatever the reason, we should be getting out of here."

Without further ado they all left the building's prison block running, and flying, as fast as they could, heading for the exit. They got down to the first floor safely… actually, no one else had appeared to face them, the place seemed to be totally empty. They didn't pay much attention to it and kept going until they had the door in sight. That's where their little trip ended.

Without warning each of them was launched brusquely against a different wall. Then they heard a fear-inducing, maniacal laugh.

From the shadows, a hooded man with dark energy coming out of his hands appeared. "Well, well, well. Looks like someone's lost."

"A trap, great," Mega exclaimed. As soon as he did, many shadows started appearing from all sides.

They all looked at Kass. "Didn't you tell us they couldn't do that?"

"They can if I say so," The man's voice interrupted. "They're a special sect of shadows, which I call 'crawlers'. So you're the famous Helang, Mega and Byte, huh?" The man removed his hood, revealing his scarred face. "Pleasure to finally meet you, my name…"

"Is Centauri."

The man stared at Mega for a few seconds, a smaller trace of surprise in his eyes. "How did…? Psyon, you filthy rat."

While the man was still talking alone, Helang recovered from the crash and rushed full speed at Centauri; however the guy only had to point a hand in his direction to immobilize him, making both wolves gasp.

"It's not… not possible," The bird muttered with effort. "I'm… I'm immune to these things."

"But you're playing in another team's field, friend. Let me tell you something, defense ties…"

"Defense wins," The hawk interrupted, realizing how stupid he had been.

"So it is. Psyon really trained you, huh? That's interesting." Centauri snapped his fingers and the shadows began to bind and tie the other four who hadn't yet recovered from the original blow.

"I want them into maximum security," He instructed as the shadows finished their work. "Take them to the experimental cells." The guy then slammed Helang against a wall, leaving him as knocked down as his friends.

(-)

Being only a couple of feet away from her objective, and being this one tired, vulnerable and cornered, Kia bared her teeth and snarled at Mittens, while she prepared for a swift and precise bite into the cat's neck. She looked into those green eyes and enjoyed every second of silent agony and terror these where transmitting; the cat was terrified, and Kia was enjoying that. One feet away. This was it.

"No!" Bolt suddenly rammed Kia from one side, pushing her away from Mittens.

"I'm tired of it!" She snapped as she stood back up, angrier than before. "Move aside or I'll kill you too!"

"I'm not moving." The she-fox snarled at him and disappeared. "Not again…"

He had no time to think before he received a blow from behind. Kia stood on top of him. "When I kill her, you'll thank me, honey," She whispered into his ear.

"Don't you dare… touch her!" But he had no energy left, and the blow had stunned him enough.

"Now, you stupid cat, I'll kill you. And my Bolt will go back to normal."

The cat was in the same position, tired and scared, and had nothing to do.

Kia slowly approached her objective again. And, again, didn't reach it. Being as close as the first time, her legs simply collapsed under her weight. "What's this?" She glared at Mittens in total hatred. "What'd you do to me!?"

"It wasn't her," Another voice came from the entrance to the room. "It was me."

Both Bolt and Mittens opened their eyes and began to smile, for their rescuer was no less than Rhino himself. They had never been so glad to see their little friend.

"You didn't really think I would stay home and sit while you were having fun, right?" The hamster walked towards him friends, intending to heal them. Whoever it wasn't necessary. When them all three where close enough, Bolt and Mittens began to glow slightly healing all of their wounds and renewing their energy.

Then a voice came.

" _Well done, you three. Now it is your time to leave this place."_

"Should we?" The dog smiled at his mate.

"Yes, yes we should," She smiled back.

"No, I won't let you!" Kia yowled still on the floor. But none of them listened to her. "No!"

Bolt stopped at the door and looked back at her. "I'm sorry, Kia," It was the last thing he said before leaving.

"NO! They're escaping! Somebody do something!" The fox screamed from the top of her lungs.

All three of them were running to the exit when an alarm sounded loudly. Moments later seven shadows, bigger and stronger even than the elite one, appeared. They began to circle the three friends, keeping them away from the exit.

"Mittens, hold Rhino and get on me. I have an idea."

She did as Bolt asked.

"Now what, Bolt?" Rhino asked, trying not to panic. They all knew they couldn't take on those shadows.

"Now… I hope I paid enough attention," He muttered to himself.

"Attention to what?" They both asked, a new type of worry stinging inside.

"Hold on tight."

When Bolt felt Mittens' grip get stronger, he looked past the shadows, just where the door was. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and _hoped for things to go right_. The astonished comments of his mate and best friend confirmed they had.

"B-Bolt… h-h-how did you…?" The dog opened his eyes and realized that, indeed, they were now standing beside the door, past the shadows. "Y-You… teleported us?"

"I-I guess I did; and I have no idea how, but I feel awesome, as if I could do anything!"

"And speaking of 'doing anything', can we beat them?" Rhino said, pointing to the, now pissed, shadows.

"No."

Rhino looked at Bolt in confusion. "Why not?"

"I don't know, I think it's a premonition," The shepherd answered.

"Then how do we get out without being followed?" Mittens asked quickly.

"Leave that to me."

The hamster, without waiting for an answer, closed in his paws to make his energy sphere, only that it was a lot faster and bigger than usual. "Oh, cool! I didn't know I could do it so fast!" Then he aimed at the shadows, lowered a little his aim and threw it. "Cover your eyes!"

When the sphere made contact with the floor it exploded in a brilliant luminous cloud. Fortunately, all three of them had obeyed Rhino's command.

"Now, Bolt, get us out of here!"

By the time the cloud had dissipated, no animal was to be seen.

(-)

Ben was totally terrified, and praying not to die just for having some bad news.

The shadow knocked on its boss' door and entered the office after receiving the instruction to do so.

"What is it?" the human asked from his chair.

"Sir, the shadows…"

"Ah, yes. Did the capture the targets?"

Ben gulped. "No."

Centauri frowned a little, and with no warning hit the desk, adding another mark to it. After that his expression returned to normal. "And how are the new prisoners?"

"Fine, I guess. T-They haven't awakened yet."

"Right. Notify me as soon as they do."

"Yes, sir," Without waiting for another order, Ben ran out of the office.

Centauri started talking again. "Well, a slight setback. A movement that didn't go as planned. No game of chess goes exactly as planned, so it's your ability to adapt that determines the real victory, needless to say, it'll soon be mine."

Another knock was heard on the door. A well-known shadow poked its head in. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes. I think you did a great job luring those fools straight up here; plus you proved that my newest security chief was not as good as I thought." The man took a half-destroyed pen and wrote something on an old paper. "Take this to the main warehouse and hand it over to whoever's in charge there. It's your reward."

The shadow took the paper and smiled just by reading the amount of power it would be granted just by delivering that stupid paper at the warehouse. "Thank you, sir." It headed for the exit, but stopped midway. "Oh, by the way, Kia wanted to talk to you."

"Yes, I know."

"Something about her ability; she says it didn't work a while ago.

"I'm aware of that, too. I caused it."

The shadow looked in astonishment at the man sitting on the chair. "You… nulled Kia's teleport?"

"Yes and no. Pay attention, I'll say it once." Centauri grabbed a small device from somewhere, it looked like a sprinkler. "Do you know what it is?" The shadow shrugged. "I thought so. This baby here is a power transformer, and works like this." Centauri placed the thing on the desk and pressed a small button on it. The shadow immediately felt the energy on the room get darker.

"So it…"

"It turns the room's energy into negative, I sense it."

"Yes, that's right." Centauri smiled. "Now go walk around and tell me if you don't find one of those per room at least. They feed on positive and neutral energy, so being here those idiots have a limited amount of energy to use against us."

"But, sir…"

"I know, some shadows died of power-shots today. From what I know, they're always carrying a small sum of energy that they store in their bodies. That's why they could use abilities at first. However, they ran out of it, and that's why everything went so well."

"I see, but I still don't understand what's its relation with Kia's thing.

"Kia, naively, ignores our intentions. That's why she didn't feed on negative energy to power her ability. There was no positive energy for her to use today, and thus, she couldn't teleport, as much desperate as she was to help her beloved dog."

"But…"

"When the cat kissed the dog, she not only straightened his memories, but she broke Kia's heart, moreover since Bolt kissed her back afterwards. With a broken heart and enough anger pulsing through her, Kia began feeding on negative energy, though she wasn't used to it, and was able to teleport again."

"Okay… but if there was no positive energy, how'd the dog and the hamster were able to use skills to get out of here?"

"The pillar."

No more words where needed. The stupid pillar could break all the rules, bend all the schemes, and go beyond the limits. That's why they had managed. That pillar was the biggest threat to the organization.

"But if the pillar is safe now, we have no chance."

Centauri chuckled. "How pessimistic you are. Right, the pillar can accomplish anything, but it must train to do so. Buying a piano won't make you a pianist unless you practice. And we won't give them time to practice."

"How…?"

"Enough questions," Centauri decided. "Go get your reward."

The shadow didn't move for a few seconds, then bowed. "Thanks, sir."

The specter left and Centauri was once more alone in his office, thinking.

(-)

"Hey, look, Bolt's back!"

Everyone who hadn't been allowed to go to the mission was around them three in a matter of seconds. Questions rained over Bolt's ears and he wasn't even able to answer one. Finally, Delta's wail rose over the rest of them.

"Where are the others?"

The dog tilted his head. "They're not back?"

"Don't joke."

"No, I'm serious, we haven't seen them."

Beta sighed and looked down. "Then they were probably captured."

"No, no, no. I think those five can fight any shadow in front of them."

" _Any shadow… except one."_

Everyone was surprised to hear Soul's voice, and the default question was "What happened to your kids?", which the voice answered with one word.

" _Centauri."_

And nothing more was needed; everyone instantly understood the situation.

"So now what?" Alpha asked.

" _First things first. Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, you better get inside."_

"What? Why?" The hamster questioned instantly.

" _Penny is trying to explain to her mother where she was."_

"Oh," Without any more explanation they headed home. "See you in a while, guys."

Inside the house, the first thing they saw was Penny, with her clothes dirty and even a little ragged. She was sitting in front of her mother, with a face that clearly said: "I don't believe you."

"Okay," She spoke. "Now I want the truth, missy."

"But that's the truth, mom," Penny mumbled with her head down. Whatever she had told her mother, it was definitely not the truth.

"No, it's not. Why don't you tell me where you were, or what happened?"

The girl was silent for about a minute, her eyes moving from place to place. "Because you wouldn't believe me if I told you," She said at last.

" _However, given the situation, she'll find out sooner or later, Penny."_

She didn't answer Soul and kept her sight on the floor in between her feet. Her mother sighed with resignation.

"Well, it doesn't matter anymore. The important thing is that you're back," She sentenced. Without saying more, she stood up and went back to the kitchen.

"Penny," Bolt called to his person.

The girl turned and had her frown upside down in a moment. "Bolt!"

She ran to embrace him and kept her beloved shepherd in her arms for a while.

"I'm sorry, Penny," He said. "You were trying to help me and I wouldn't listen."

"It doesn't matter, like mom said, we're back home."

"Yeah, about that…"

The girl noticed that "We have trouble" tone, and let go of Bolt. "What happened, Soul? Where have you been? Why didn't you talk to me? Do you know how lonely I felt?" Her tone gave the impression of a wife questioning her husband after he comes home too late in the night.

The soul didn't pay attention to the tone and simply sighed. _"Do you remember that Helang promised they would come back?"_

She came to her conclusion in a second. "They won't, will they?"

" _Uh-uh. Centauri captured them all five. The rest is outside at least."_

Without further ado, Penny headed outside, followed by her three pets. They immediately went to the barn, where the rest of them was waiting in silence.

"Okay," Penny said as she set foot on the inside. "What's the plan?"

" _Your best chance is the pillar."_

"Yeah, but you haven't told us who is the pillar," Rhino commented.

" _And I'm not about to. It's one thing you have to do alone. But I'll repeat that the pillar is among you three."_

A slight air flow crossed the barn and Soul said nothing more.

"Soul?" No answer. "Soul!"

Nothing. He had left.

"We don't have time to figure who the pillar is, we have to get them back!"

"Wait…" Everyone looked at Peep, who had stood up. "We have to… take it easy, y'know? We rush it… we find ourselfs… in a cell next to them."

"You're right," Flor said. "We have to think ourselves a good plan and analyze it well."

"Listen, uh, it may not seem fine given our situation, but I think you should rest, at least for today. You just came back from there, so maybe we should wait a day or two before setting paw inside again."

"Alpha's right," her brother nodded. "We have to go easy and nicely."

"And we can make up a plan in these days," Beta continued. "Though we could use some help!" She shouted at the ceiling, receiving no answer once more.

"It's settled then. We'll take today to rest and relax. From tomorrow on, we'll plan a rescue for our friends."

There was a nod among everyone and then each went back home.

Helang's P.O.V.

 _Defense ties, defense wins. Defense ties, defense wins. Defense ties, defense wins. How could I be so stupid? Master taught me better than this. A trap, the hell I knew it was a trap, but… I thought I would manage. Defense ties, defense wins, damn it! The biggest stupidity of my life… though, I kinda prepared something for…_

A horrible squeak sounded throughout the room, taking me back to reality. I opened my eyes for the first time since Centauri had caught me. I was in a cell, and I didn't actually care for its color of material. This dude was not stupid, he would've placed us in his best and more secure cells. However, I was a little surprised to find that the texture of the room was… rocky.

Mega's voice was next. "Hey, guys, the idiot's placed us in stone cells! We'll be out in no time!"

It was true. The entire cell was made of a rocky composition, with black and dark tones, excepting a crystal on one side; probably as resisting as the one Bolt used to keep us from helping Mittens. Man, I hope they had better luck.

I looked through the glass. Mega and Byte were next to each other, in contiguous cells. Jonathan was next to Mega and Kass next to Byte. I was the only one on the other side, the only one that could see them from my cell.

"Mega, I don't want to crush that hope, but I really doubt it's normal rock. We know what this guy can do," Byte told him. I didn't want to admit it, but she was probably right. He wouldn't let us get out of here easily, unless, of course, we were running into another trap.

A door opened and my eyes caught the last being I would like to see. He was accompanied by Kia, who had a serious semblance and a much darker look than the one James had described to us. The shadow to which we made the deal was there, too. Both of them stood at each side of the door and let the person walk in calmly.

Centauri moved freely around the room. "First of all, I hope you're comfortable. You'll be there for a long time. Second, let me inform you that you can't escape." The man stopped in front of Mega's cell and smirked. "Like my friend here said, the cells are made of rock, or more specifically, obsidian, which means…"

"We'll be gone by tomorrow," Mega interrupted.

Centauri began to laugh. "How stupid!" He mocked in between the laughter. He took his time to calm down, then kept going as if nothing. "Obsidian's characterized for absorbing energy. All energy you produce or summon will be absorbed by the cell itself. That's exactly why you won't have any ability to use."

"There are other ways to make an escape."

" _Shut it, Mega!"_ I screamed in his mind. He looked at me ashamed. _Man, he can be a headache sometimes._

Cenaturi started walking around again. "Like you said, there are more ways. Let me show you: Each cell is pressurized and totally isolated from the world. I merely installed a communicator in each of them so you won't die of boredom. Don't try it, your conversations _will_ be monitored." He stopped in front of my cell and knocked on the glass a couple of times, amused. "You'll only receive enough air to breath, so you won't absorb energy from the air." He walked away from me and went to Byte. "Also, we can lift the cells up, cutting your contact with the ground so you don't absorb energy from the earth. You'll have only enough water to live, thus making you unable to absorb energy from there, too. You have totally forbidden to meditate, relax, or anything, and you'll only sleep when we tell you so. The cells can monitor your vital signs, and, being it necessary, we'll just have to… teach you a lesson." He smiled grimly.

"You won't get away with it. The pillar will stop you." _Aw, Mega. Sometimes, just sometimes, it's better to shut up._

"Maybe you mean the dog, or the cat, even perhaps the little hamster." His tone was totally confident, and I didn't like that. "Don't worry about them, they're very comfortable in another containment room, on the opposite side of the building. So _assuming_ you managed to escape, we'll kill them. Or vice versa."

"How…?"

"Certainly, the hamster appeared when the cat had already spoiled Bolt, but that doesn't mean they were able to escape, right?" Kia blinked and looked at Centauri in a questioning way. Is he lying? "Well, enjoy your stay."

Centauri left the room still smiling, followed closely by Kia. The only one that stayed was the shadow.

"Thanks," It said, but I couldn't bring myself to guess if it was sincere or sarcastic. Or maybe both. After that, however, the shadow left too.

 _We're in trouble. If Centauri has them three, we're doomed._

"Well, I guess, we're stuck here," Kass said, lying on the floor of his cell, looking at its ceiling. "Maybe If we had brought the othe…"

"Hush!" I silenced the cat. Then I talked in their minds.

" _If we had brought the rest of them, we would all be inside here. I knew it was a trap, and planned a backup in case I wasn't able to foresee it."_

Mega opened his eyes and looked at me in awe. "You didn't _leave them behind._ " I shook my head. "Right, you're the boss for a reason."

" _But we have to do our share, too,"_ I continued. _"If Centauri's got Bolt, Mittens and Rhino, getting out of here will be harder. We have to find a way out of the cells."_

They all started looking around, trying to find a way. I didn't. I thought it wouldn't be as obvious as a door or so.

"I don't see how," Mega said.

"Nothing."

"Same."

"Zero."

"Perhaps the cells _do_ were designed for us," I sighed. The worst part was that I couldn't meditate, which would be the best option in a place like this. "We'll have to wait."

(-)

Sir, you're being called in the research lab."

Centauri growled and left the room towards where he had been called, leaving Kia with the two shadows monitoring the cells. She was observing the room through the various cameras that where placed in there. _They're my best chance,_ thought the she-fox.

Centauri walked to the lab, mumbling under his breath. He wasted no time and got there in a minute.

"What?" He asked bluntly.

Both shadows looked scared to a point. "Sir, we… we've tried everything within reach, but the staff…"

"It's just not changing. Not at all," In a shelf nearby, the wooden staff they were talking about made a series of repetitive notes. "And it makes those noised frequently."

"It's making fun of you, idiots." Centauri moved towards the cane. "Its composition… looks brand new…" He turned back to the shadows. "Double your efforts. If you don't know what to do, then investigate. I want it turned to the dark as soon as possible."

Without giving a chance to reply, he left the lab, slamming the door.

(-)

"Okay, okay, another one."

"Mega, I'm tired of your bad jokes."

The wolf ignored his sister's complaint. "Okay, look. What's funnier than twenty four? Twenty five!" Nobody said anything. "You understand? 25 is more than 24! Get it?" The wolf could not contain the laughter of his own joke and began to laugh loudly. Byte put on an expression of wanting to die or get out of there as soon as possible. Helang was deep in thought, Kass was sharpening its claws against the rock and Jonathan was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling of his cell. After a minute, the wolf calmed down enough to talk again. "Okay, here's another one."

"No!" Byte yowled. "Mega, please, I'm begging you. Don't. Keep. Going."

"And what do you want me to do, girl?"

"Nothing."

Silence.

A minute.

Two minutes.

Three minu–

"Then nothing, 'nothing', or nothing 'stop telling jokes and do something else'?"

" _Nothing!_ "

"Don't yell at me, calm down."

"Helang, please make him stop."

"Hey, do you think I'm a little pup or what?"

"You act like one. Ninety percent of your life time."

"And the other ten?"

"Like a puppy."

"Oh, I see. So, according to you, I don't contribute to the team."

"Not when you get like a puppy. Oh, wait, you always do!"

"You always act bitter; I just wanted to cheer you up!"

"Well, you're not helping!"

"You aren't either!"

To that point, Kass and Jonathan had covered their ears. Helang was deep in thought, staring at the floor and thinking about the last six words his dear master had told him. Six words that had haunted his mind for some times now: _You'll know when to tell them._

* * *

 **Hi! Week's chapter on time. Anyway, thanks to everyone who still reads this, after all this time. Special thanks to Basbon and to ShadowScare for reviewing my chapter's; guys, you really help me out and keep me motivated for this. I've got nothing more to say, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	45. Memories, confessions and songs

Chapter 45: Memories, confessions and songs

Two days. Under most circumstances that lapse of time happens in the blink of an eye, or vice versa and totally slowly. In this case, for some it was the first case, and for some the second.

Penny wasn't attending school. She and her mother had argued when Ms. Forrester insisted in notifying the police of her return. The girl, aware that she would be questioned nonstop about her whereabouts, moved earth, sea and sky until she convinced her mother not to make the call, promising that, on time, she would tell the truth. As a result, her classmates and teachers didn't know she was back yet. In fact, only those involved in the conflict, her mother and her neighbors, knew that she was home. Thus, it was easy for the girl to wake up early and leave the house pretending to go to school, where she would actually hide in the barn until her mother left. She would spend the whole days helping however she could to plan a rescue.

Alpha, to her brother's surprise, had taken the situation with unprecedented maturity and, with it, she had also taken the temporary leadership of the group. Peep was slightly saddened for his brother's absence, though he wouldn't allow this to interfere with his duty. Both girls interested in him noticed it immediately, and dedicated time for him (more), so that he could play and forget about it for a while.

Bolt, Mittens and Rhino, by an offering from the group, or rather an order, had stayed outside the situation, especially the couple. They all had decided that both lovebirds deserved to make up for the lost time, so they left them with plenty of free time and alone, keeping them noticed with the plans and progress the group was developing.

Bolt's, Beta's and Flor's knowledge of the building's structure and the guards hours were most useful in those forty-eight hours, though the group knew that Centauri wasn't dumb, and that he could change the guards turns any second, so they didn't rely on the schedules for a strategy. The structure would be enough.

Bud and James would keep on visiting them, giving them information of whatever they could. This way, our friends found out the location of the cells and their peculiar characteristics. Both young shadows began to raise suspicions among their companions, so they had to work in several excused. Alex and Shade were assigned to research, to help find out how to turn Soul's staff to the darkness. Kia, still resented, punched things a lot; her training turned more aggressive and she stopped talking to everyone. The vixen had also gone to "visit" the prisoners daily, never saying anything to them either, just watching them inside their cells. The mentor shadow had gained enough power to classify as a hunter shadow, and its companion had lost some power and job, for screwing up on the second day as security chief of the building.

Mega and Byte wouldn't stop fighting, for anything, from getting out to the color of the cells. Helang, though he didn't meditate, thought a lot about what his master had told him. _Why?_ He wondered constantly. Kass and Jonathan did nothing in particular. The dog only hoped for his little friend to be okay and the cat had only one time a day to do something, when a six-blue-eyed shadow came into the room to check that the cells were still in perfect conditions. In those short minutes, with growls and grunts, the shadow would give this cat some details about the building.

Soul hadn't spoken since Penny talked to her mother. Centauri, quietly, was beginning to fear a failure for his plan A. However he didn't worry too much, for he had a B one for that. He could still remember the conversation he had had with the research shadows before he assigned the young ones to help them. One single sentence repeated again and again in his head.

 _This staff was designed by Genesis._

That very name made him shiver.

Genesis.

For ordinary people, it would be nothing more than a name, or not even that, but just a mere word. For anyone involved in the conflict, no. That name transcended, not only among shadows or lights, but among every person, animal or plant that knew about this conflict. The man was legendary, famous for mastering the twelve elements: the four basic, their variants and the four "epic," "untamable", "unexplainable", or whichever name you wants to give them. He had the highest premonition level seen in modern history, and even knew how to modify matter, giving place to rumors that he could change his physical form into whatever he wanted to. It was even said that he had deciphered the fifth, ninth and thirteenth elements. The first one was a perfect combination of the first four, the ninth was the same thing, coming from the variants and the thirteenth was the most complex: only achievable by a fusion of the first twelve. How in the world do you combine time, space, life and death, which are not physical elements, with fire, air, ground and water, which are physical? Nobody alive knows. That's the point.

He used only weapons that he made; most of them included crystals or stones of some sort. He had left the shadow organization previous to Centauri's in ashes, with few survivors and a lot of clean shadows. At some point he had met an ally, Frost, who had become his sidekick. Frost wasn't a direct warrior, but no one else knew better how to treat wounds and perform technical and tactical movements. Alone, both were invincible; together, they were _untouchable._

They whereabouts had been a mystery for a long time, basically because they had no enemies to look for them. Until a survivor, and elite shadow had begun to rebuild what had been lost. Somehow, the shadow learned where he was in retirement and murdered the legend, along with anyone with him at the moment of the attack. How it was never cleared, since the guy had faced dozens of light destroyers without suffering more than a few injuries.

After that, the shadow had no trouble in creating a new organization that prospered well, until it lost the leadership to a young man. Being done, the first order had been to search for Frost. During his first months in charge, he had sent to look for Psyon, trying to show him what he accomplished. Slowly, this thought was replaced by another one: a train of thought that told him that Psyon would probably show opposition to his achievements. What he didn't understand was that from all of their friends, Psyon had always had the lead, so the other ones would probably try to stop him as well.

The idea began to eat him on the inside, lighting an anger born out of envy that prompted him to do something he claimed to no regret. Using shadow technology, Centauri had massacred his former comrades and friends. Few had survived his first strike, and he hunter the survivors down, taking one or two more before losing track of the rest. Xi had escaped, but he wasn't the only one, nor the most important. The couple… the couple had slipped from in between his fingers. They were the most dangerous for him, along with Psyon's students that, sooner or later, he would have to face. He and…

"Sir?" A shadow appeared at the entrance of his office.

"What?" The guy didn't hide the annoyance of this little interruption.

The shadow flinched. "N-N-Nothing."

The small specter left without even making the question it was going to make, and Centauri decided to stop thinking about past problems. He was only driving himself crazy. With that in mind, he decided to leave the building for a while and go for a walk. He grabbed a couple of things, including his robe to cover his identity, and left the place without anyone noticing.

* * *

Umbra ha recently left the room. It had only been a few minutes before Kia entered for her daily visit. The vixen walked among the cells, observing the prisoners inside, just as she had done the previous days. However, this time, she began to talk.

"First thing's first. You don't like me," She said, in a tone that showed resemblance to the one the shadow had used. "And I don't like you, but that's not relevant now…"

"This sounds terribly familiar to me…" Mega interrupted.

"Quiet!" The she-fox shouted. The her tone became frightening neutral. "I'll go straight to the point. I want my Bolt back. If you help me, I can… make a couple mistakes here and there to make it easier to get out."

"You're not worried about the security cameras that just recorded what you said, young lady?" Jonathan asked, getting on all fours.

"Oh, no. They're on lunchbreak right now, and too lazy to rewind the tape."

" _Well played, John,"_ Helang praised in his mind.

"Look, Kia, right?" Helang said, getting her attention. "I don't mean to hurt you, but the Bolt you saw fleeing from here is the real one."

"You're lying," She retorted. "Bolt loves me, I know."

"Did he ever said so?"

"Well, no… but that's not the point."

"In fact, it is," Byte intervened. "Bolt has known Mittens for a long time, and both traveled through the whole country. They lived a lot of things together and that's why they fell in love."

"She's right," Mega added. "Besides, even if Bolt's not an expert in love, he expresses what he fells when he feels it."

Kia was losing her temper, but did her best not to show it. "He was always nice to me."

"Sorry to tell you, but Bolt's nice to everyone."

"False."

"Look," Helang spoke again. "If you want to know the real story, we can show you. I don't know what Centauri said, but it was probably a lie, specially talking about Bolt."

"Shut up. I just want to see my Bolt again, and you're not helping!"

"First of all, he's not yours. I don't think even Mittens tells him that. Rather than love, it seems like you're holding on to him. Like you owe him something…"

"Shut it!" The vixen shrieked.

"Fine, I'll shut up."

"I'm going to get my Bolt back, with or without your help. The difference is that now you'll have to deal with your own problem yourselves!"

The vixen, angry as she could be, left the room and slammed the door behind her. "He's mine!" They all heard from the other side of the door.

"Well, that's a whole new level of attachment…"

"More than attachment, I think she feels she owes him something," Byte answered her brother.

"Well, she looks like a psycho. Poor Bolt."

Mega's comment marked the beginning of a silence that lasted about ten minutes or so, before the wolf broke it again with a sigh.

"Now what?" Helang asked.

"It's just…" His gaze turned absent for a moment. "I wish I could feel her right now. To know that she's fine and…"

"Alright, that's enough," Byte cut him off.

"Don't say anything. You have never fallen in love and then let her go, so you're in no position to judge. When you love someone as much as I loved her…"

"Enough!" Helang shouted, causing both wolves to look at him in surprise. The hawk took a deep breath to calm down a bit and tell his younger brother his truths. "Mega, I'm sorry to tell you, but you haven't let her go, just because you're still aware of her, delving into her life and watching her. Listen, I know you do it with good intentions, but you're not accomplishing anything, and you even hurt yourself by doing it. You always tell us that you let her go and that you didn't care that she went off with another wolf. Then why the hell are you still after her? Believe me, being in a pack, she won't have problems. Now, for whatever you want, fill your words and let her go." The four of them were staring at the falcon's cell. "I'm sorry, but I've been keeping it for a long time."

"But you're right, I haven't let her go," A tear rolled down Mega's cheek just before he sighed sadly. "Listen, I… I'm sorry, I know that it's wrong, that I'm contradicting my words and that I should've let her go a long time ago, but thing is… I can't." The wolf took a deep breath, trying not to break down while talking. "Master always talked about love based on detachment. I admired him so much… I wanted to be like him, I wanted to be able to say 'I loved her and I let her go'. When I met her, when she became my mate, I thought the day wouldn't come, I _didn't want_ it to come… but it did. I did what Master would have done, but, oh hell! how easy it is to say and hard to actually do. I thought I would handle it, you know?, but I thought wrong. So I began to use the elements of my domain to keep watch over her… to feel her."

"Mega, I–"

"Let me finish, please," The falcon made a gesture with his paw. "I know that what I told the girls is totally opposite to what I do, I do. But I did not want them to follow my bad example. I know that I am terrible for this, but at least I didn't want to embark them on the same wrong road. I'm aware that it was not right, I always was. But I tried to ignore it, I tried to convince myself that my actions were justified by what I feel for her. Now," The wolf lifted his head and looked at Helang on the other side of the room. "I want to thank you for making me understand. Thank you, Helang, really,"

That being said, Mega dropped to the floor of his cell, without making any noise more.

"Well, that ... I was not expecting that," Byte whispered, slightly breaking the silence that had formed. Then she moved to the edge of her cell that bordered on her brother's. "Hey… are you okay?" There was no answer. "Mega?" She insisted. "Hey, I… You know you have…"

"Fooled you! The wolf shouted, jumping off the floor, scaring his sister. "Certainly, Helang, you opened my eyes, but come on, girl, I'm not that sentimental."

Byte grunted. "Oh, when I get out of here, I'll…"

"You'll what, huh?"

"I'm going to skin you alive!"

Wolf laughed. "Yeah, sure!"

With that the discussion of the half past five began between both wolves. Mega continued to laugh at his sister and she repeated everything that would make him suffer when they were freed; however, like any discussion, the talk moved on to a point where they were both arguing who was to blame for having ended there.

The arguments were accompanied by growls and threats as both wolves blamed each other for what had happened. Kass and Jonathan were there covering their ears again and Helang, for the second time in one day, was losing his patience.

"…and if we had gotten in the ventilation with Penny we'd be outside!"

"Then why did not you suggest it, girl?"

"Because I was busy dealing with your idiocy!"

"Forgive me, but at the time I was not doing anything!"

"I sometimes find it hard to believe that you are my brother!"

Finally, Helang spoke. "It's because he's not." With that, the two wolves were silent and the other two began to pay attention.

"What?" They asked at once, then it was only Mega. "She is not my sister?"

The falcon sighed. "Look, there's a part of the story the Master didn't tell you, and he left me to tell it when you were ready. You're not, but what better moment."

"Straight to the point."

"How to begin? I guess from the beginning." Then he looked up, as if remembering, and went on. "Your mother was there, with your siblings. She told us that you were hidden and asked for our help to take care of you. Certainly, we did not find you all day, and certainly, you dawned huddled together with the Master, but were…"

"'Very close together,' he said" Byte intervened.

"You were more than together, Byte." Helang took a breath, he seemed not to be able to say it. "You were…"

"Just say it!"

"You were united, clinging to each other!"

Both wolves left the subtlety and expressed their surprise almost with a shout. "What!?"

"You two were, what the humans call it, Siamese twins. You were attached, glued on one leg."

Mega joined the pieces. "Our weak leg."

Helang nodded. "Your left leg was attached to Byte's right leg. Some of the muscles in that area were shared, so that was your weak leg until you started training. In fact, we think your siblings followed your mother out when she tried to confront the hunter, but you couldn't hence the union, so that's what saved you."

"And what happened?"

The falcon sighed again. "The master had to separate you. He told me it could be dangerous, but you wouldn't have made it otherwise."

"But ... what did he do?"

"When we realized the situation, and since we didn't have surgical material or anything other than us and the staff, that's what we used. The Master 'cut' you from each other using energy, and a lot. But," His throat grew dry. "He didn't consider the whole picture. As he used energy for separating you, he not only separated you physically, but energetically as well, breaking with your sibling bond. That's why one is an immature and the other is very serious, that is why one dominates the aggressive and the other the passive, that is why you fight more and more, because you're not connected like all the other siblings of the planet. Biologically you never stopped being siblings; energetically you never were."

"And there's nothing we can do?"

"The Master always said that you could reform the bond by living together, accepting yourselves as you are. Becoming one."

"Hey!" Mega replied. "That's not right, she's my sister!"

"What?" The hawk processed what he had said. "No, silly, I didn't mean that kind of 'becoming one'; I meant to understand that you both are part of one, that you need each other!"

"Oh."

"Jeez, Mega." Then there was a few seconds of silence. "So, since we're already talking about it, I'll tell you about the Omicron project."

"And what's that."

Helang smiled. "It's that other skill I worked with the teacher that you'd been asking me about so long."

"Oh great! Well, tell us."

Omicron was developed by the Master as a way to regenerate your sibling bond and improve it. But he didn't stop there, because he expanded the project to cover us as well. The idea of the project is that the bond between two living beings becomes so strong that both can synchronize perfectly, meaning that one could see with the other's eyes, hear with their ears and smell with their nose, without even having to ask permission, a skill that in battle would turn out to be most useful. A perfect synchronization to such a degree that both could read the mind and communicate through it without spending energy and without possibility of interference or interruption. Skill, of course, you can 'turn off,' who wants to know what the other is doing all the time?

"And that's it?"

"That's the first part, the master's ideal was to regenerate your bond before leaving our last camp, but he did not find how. His ideal also included that I was part of this union, turning to the three capable of perceiving what the other two."

"Something like a collective intelligence."

"Quite close, Kass."

"And what's the second part?"

"In that part you two did not participate, Mega."

"But I want to know."

"Some other time," The hawk finished the sentence in their minds. _"Since it can help us get out of here."_

"Ooh, I see."

After that there was a silence of several minutes, which Byte broke. "Helang?"

"Yes?"

"How could we begin to regenerate that bond?"

The hawk thought about it for a few seconds. "With whatever you do together, without bothering each other, should work."

"How about singing?"

"I guess…"

"Then I have an idea," The wolf declared.

* * *

Centauri took about an hour walking around the city, doing nothing in particular, just wandering around aimlessly, when he received a call.

" _Sir?"_

"Yes, what is it?"

" _Uh… the-the prisoners. They… are asking for more air supply."_

Centauri came aback by that. "They said what for?"

" _Yes, sir. They say they… want to sing."_

"Sing?"

" _Sing."_

Within the young man's mind were a million questions: What the hell would they want to sing for? What did they gain from it? Why today and not from the first day? Are they trying to gain energy to escape? None was answered.

"Fine," He said finally, not sure of his own actions. "But as soon as they're done, I want you to return the air filter to normal."

" _Sure. Though I doubt it will be soon. The wolf has mentioned songs like crazy."_

"Sooner or later they'll get tired. Just make sure the filter returns to normal when they're done."

" _Yes, sir."_

* * *

At about eight o'clock on the third day after the escape, the group was returning home, with a strategy that was already beginning to take shape. "Goodnight." They all said in their respective homes before they all closed their eyes and went to sleep. On the other hand, in the building, there was a rhythm generating Kass and Jonathan as they knocked on the rock of the cells softly as the two wolves sang with the hawk joining them on the choirs.

… _I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become._

 _It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you;_

 _There is nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do._

 _I bless the rains down in Africa;_

 _Gonna take some time to do the things we never had._

Oddly enough, the shadows that were monitoring their movements, after a while of listening to them, began to repeat what the prisoners were singing in a low voice. Unable to avoid it, they ended up singing alongside the wolves and the falcon, although the latter could not hear them. In that way ended the day for those who were still in the building.

* * *

 **Hi there, here's chapter 45. We're coming to the end, yes, yes we are... eventually. Anyway, not much to say right now, so I'll thank everyone, special thanks to my friends Basbon and ShadowScare for their constant reviews... and yes, nothing else to say, so nos vemos luego!**


	46. Preparations

Chapter 46: Preparations

It was two in the afternoon, fourth day since the escape from the building. The whole group was gathered, planning a rescue mission; they would make sure there was no mistake this time.

"He's gonna be waiting for us, that's for sure," Rhino commented.

"But maybe not _all of us_ ," Bolt reasoned "Assuming that I learned anything being there, he'll wait for the pillar to go save them."

"Why?"

"Well, I don't know what his plans are all about but for them to work, he needs the pillar out of the way. Since the pillar can do anything, it's probably the biggest threat to his plans."

"So, you think it's a trap?" Delta asked.

"I'm sure it is. What I can't tell it's if the trap is for everyone or just the pillar."

"Well, it's not that important given the circumstances."

"We're getting sidetracked. It has to be a trap, but we can also make our plays; we can distract them in some way to get the place cleared for them."

"Alpha is right. With the help James and Bud have been giving us, we could easily get to their control room and open the cells from there. We could split up: half goes into distraction and the other half goes right to open the cages."

"Leave the distraction part to us," Rhino offered. "If the pillar is what he wants, he'll fall right for our presence. We'll make perfect bait."

"And in the meantime, we go straight for the cells. Sounds good," Beta added.

"Well, that's it for the general structure of the plan. We can discuss details after eating something."

While everyone went back home to eat, Bolt stayed under the tree, laying down and thinking a little. A dark voice brought him back.

"Why the face, dog?"

He turned his head and found the two shadows that would come around those hours daily.

"Hi, guys," He nodded before returning his head to its previous position. "I was thinking a little."

"Well, it looks serious," James said. "Can we help you?"

"I don't think so, James."

"Well, if you don't tell us we won't know."

Bolt let out a sigh. "I'm worried about Mittens."

"Something happened to her?"

"No," Bolt said. "And that's how I want to keep it. All of this… the rescue, the bait, everything, it does nothing more than worry me. I don't want to see her in danger. I don't want Centauri to lay a finger on her."

The dog took a deep breath and a few seconds to get to his conclusion.

"I want her to stay out of this. She'll be safe like that."

None of the shadows said anything after that. A minute felt like an hour.

"Tell her," Bud finally said.

"What?" The dog asked in surprise.

"Tell her," The shadow repeated. "Tell her that you care, that you want her to be safe and, if you want, tell her that you don't want her to come to the mission."

"You're aware that she'll argue before accepting such a suggestion, right, Bud?"

The shadow looked at his companion and shrugged. "If he doesn't try, he'll never know."

Before Bolt could think of an answer, Penny called out for him.

"Bolt, time to eat!"

"Thanks, guys," Bolt said the shadows as he got up. "Maybe I'll talk to her afterwards."

"Sure. We'll wait here and report to Alpha."

Bolt nodded at the shadows and headed inside, where everyone was already eating.

During the meal there were few conversations, but Bolt paid no attention at all. He was still thinking. He didn't want Mittens hurt, and he was aware that Centauri had an interest in taking her, ever since the incident with the memories; even before that, another shadow had given him the same impression, with the dream where he had to choose between Mittens and Penny, and it got emphasized when they all shared the dream. He had it very present: Centauri wanted to force him to choose between his mate and his person. And if he hadn't stopped the elite shadow from taking Mittens' memories, the man would be already in position to do so. He had to make sure that didn't happen, he had to keep them both as far as possible from that situation.

Before reaching even further into that train of thought, a voice returned him to reality.

"Bolt?"

The dog shook his head, trying to get rid of those ideas and looked up, where Mittens was standing in front of him, looking slightly concerned. "Are you okay?"

"I…" He couldn't finish the sentence. He didn't know how to; a few seconds later he let out a sigh.

"What's wrong?" She insisted, taking a step towards him.

The dog didn't answer for a while. He was looking for an answer, for a way to explain that he didn't want her on the mission, but his head just stopped working. Meanwhile, the cat was still looking at him, trying to guess what had gotten into his mind. When Bolt finally managed to organize his thoughts to speak, Rhino came in.

"Guys, hey, everyone's already in the barn. We're the only ones late." He announced before leaving the place again.

"Could we talk after the gathering?" Bolt asked her before anything else happened.

"Sure," Mittens replied almost in a whisper.

As Rhino had said, everyone was in the barn, including Penny and the shadows. As soon as the two got inside, Alpha resumed the meeting.

"Well, then, Bud and James have reported that Centauri is fortifying that section of the building to make it harder for us to reach them."

"The boss will continue to fortify as long as he needs to; it's like a desperate move," James added. "I've never seen him do something like that. And he's still calling shadows to the building. For this reason, I suggest you move as quickly as possible: the longer you take, the more shadows you'll have to deal with."

"So," Bud continued. "It is true that he wants the pillar, but if he only sees you three coming in, he'll know something's not right. He's smart and it's not easy to deceive him. My personal suggestion would be that the most of you work on the distraction, while only one or two, three at the most, deal with the silent part. That way it'll be easier."

"You don't want to make a direct attack either, because they'll suspect; you have to make it look like you were trying to sneak in and you failed. That may trick them into believe that you don't have a backup plan. Even so…"

"It's not for sure. After all, he is very cautious, insightful and cunning. And he now has Kia as a right hand, totally submerged into anger."

That last sentence caught Bolt's, who hadn't pay much attention to anything before that.

"What do you mean?"

"What you heard, dog. Girl's gone crazy, like she's another one. She's aggressive, impulsive, impolite and keeps growling to everyone. Even her appearance is changing."

At such news, the shepherd only managed to feel guilt. Though he didn't understood exactly why he would feel that way.

"It's not your fault, Bolt," Mittens answered to his thoughts, leaning against him.

"She's right," Bud agreed. "The boss had her drowning in lies, making her believe that you loved her and that the cat was manipulating you. He fed a flame of hope he shouldn't have, and when reality hit her, it broke her too."

"But that doesn't mean… she's lost," Peep's quiet voice made it through the whole barn and everyone kept silent to listen. "She can still… made it out of there. With love… friend's love… and warmth."

"Peep's right, we can still help her," Alpha said. "But that'll have to wait. For now, our priority is to get our team back together."

The meeting went on, but Bolt was no longer listening. He heard them perfectly, but he didn't listen at all. All that had happened, and what could happen, the danger they were getting into. All this continued to increase his concern, especially for Mittens, but without leaving Penny behind. Helplessly, he began to think about the situation that Centauri was apparently dragging him into: Mittens or Penny. His mate or his person. For a while, he analyzed that he would be in that situation, not achieving much, considering that he loved both, but in different ways, but still loved both. In fact he loved them all, as his friends, as his companions, as his family; he did not see himself choosing one while condemning the other. His obvious choice was the same one that he had put into practice in the dream: to surrender himself so that they would not hurt either of them.

Then there was Kia. Although they had met with his memories altered by the shadows, it was someone who he ended up liking, a good friend. Heeding what he had been told, he tried to see that it wasn't his fault. But if it was not his, whose would it be? It was because of his naiveté that he believed in the shadows and not Mittens when his memories returned, so it was his fault all that happened afterwards, right? Bolt shook his head, trying not to attract attention; there was no one else, no other possible culprit than he. He thought it for a while until a single word came to his mind. Centauri. It was he who caused all that. He gave false hope to Kia, he sent for Mittens and Penny, he sent the shadows to his house several months ago; everything that had to do with his participation in this conflict had been caused by him. All this, and more, everything came from him. The only way then to keep those things from happening, was ...

"Defeat him," Bolt whispered to himself.

After getting to a conclusion, he returned his attention to the front, where the meeting was still going.

"That's why I think it's better if I, Beta and Peep go for the cells, and the rest of you make the distraction."

"Sounds good, Alpha, but how will you get inside?"

"Leave it to us," Flor said. "Since Beta's going with them and I'm going with you, each group has someone who knows the building quite well. And if the potential pillars were to get separated, Bolt's with them."

"Yes, but I didn't mean. I meant that we have to know where we are going to pretend a failed rescue mission. And I meant that we can't enter the building through the same place, or they'll know we have two groups."

"I think we'll set that tomorrow," Alpha said. "It's getting dark now."

"What time is it?"

"Eight o'clock," Penny said, looking at her phone.

"Then that's it for today. See you tomorrow."

The meeting was over with that and everyone went back home. Bolt stayed last and asked Mittens to do the same. When they were the only ones, this silence formed again, and it lasted until the cat asked her beloved once more.

"What's wrong, Bolt?"

The dog took his time. He arranged all of his thoughts before giving his mate an answer, making it a couple more seconds of silence.

"I don't want you to take this, uh, in the wrong way… You know that you're the most important being in my life, and that I would never do anything to hurt you. I want to…"

"Why do you tell me this?" She asked, puzzled by the words the shepherd had chosen.

He took a deep breath and looked into her green eyes.

"I want you to stay here,"

"What?"

"I want you to stay out of the rescue mission. Please."

Mittens froze for a few seconds, not knowing how to react.

"W-Why?" She asked at last.

"Because I don't want anything to happen to you. I don't want Centauri or Kia, or anything trying to hurt you. I…"

"You think I can't take care of myself?" She interrupted.

 _Oh, no._ "No, it has nothing to do with that. I know you can take care of yourself, even better than I can of myself. Just… do this for me, like a favor, please?" His tone has changed almost into a pleading one.

"Then what does it have to do with?" Mittens pushed. "Why should I stay here and not go rescue our friends?"

"It's just that… Centauri, he has his eyes on you, ever since the memory issue." The dog took a few seconds. "He wants to force me to choose between you and Penny."

"So, what? You would choose Penny?"

"No, but…"

"So?"

"Mittens, please, I–"

"Tell me something, Bolt. And tell me the truth: Why are you asking me this?"

"Let me finish, please," Bolt begged. "I don't want either of you to go; I wouldn't be able to make that decision. If I had to choose between one of you, and let the other die, I… I couldn't."

"You didn't answer my question, Bolt." He was silent, even after she gave him time to respond. "Fine. Then, I'll see you tomorrow."

The cat turned tail on him and began to walk away.

"Wait!" She stopped and turned back to him. "Don't go."

"Then answer me, Bolt. Why…?"

"Because I don't want to lose you! Because, if something happened to you, I wouldn't ever forgive myself!" The dog lowered his head and ears after that and began to sob slightly. "I wouldn't…. I wouldn't be able to…"

Mittens watched him for a few seconds, beginning to understand. Seeing Bolt broke like that just reached her heart. He was just trying to protect her, like he said he would, like he had done so many times before. He wanted to be her hero.

She walked slowly and stopped inches from him.

"Bolt," She called softly. The shepherd raised his head, tears in his eyes, and looks at her. She smiled, leaned closer, and held him. He stood still for a few seconds before reacting and copying the gesture. Without letting go, she kept going: "I'll be fine. One of us is the pillar, remember? I know you don't want me in a dangerous situation, but we're already quite involved into this anyway. If we find Centauri or Kia, we'll deal with it."

She broke the contact and looked into his eyes.

"Mittens, I…"

"You are my hero, Bolt. But I'm not your damsel in distress," She told him tenderly, to which he smiled.

"No, you're not," The dog sighed again. "I guess I can't persuade you to stay." She shook her head. "Okay. But promise me one thing,"

"What?"

"If things get out of hand, you'll get out of there. No matter what, you'll come home."

She thought about it for a few seconds. "Fine, but only if they get _really_ out of hand."

"It's a deal then."

She smiled and he smiled back. They both left the barn and went inside to have dinner. Once finished, Bolt went upstairs to talk, this time to Penny; Mittens stayed downstairs with Rhino, watching a movie that was halfway-started when they found it. The dog came down ten minutes later, with a face that gave nothing away.

"What happened?" The hamster asked.

"I don't understand why girls are so… determined," He replied without even turning to look. "Penny, too, insisted on going."

"So…?"

"I couldn't change her mind. I don't know how."

" _You can leave that to me, Bolt."_

"Soul," The three of them called at once. "Where were you, why do you disappear so long and then come back out of nowhere?"

" _Well, it certainly has an explanation, but it would be more interesting to show you what I'm doing when I'm done. On the other hand, I think I can convince Penny to stay out of this rescue."_

"How?"

" _I had once a sister, I know how to deal with girls… I guess. And I can be persuasive, yes. Anyway, I'll see what I can do. See you."_

"I hope he convinces her," Bolt sighed.

"Why? She could help us." Mittens asked.

"I don't doubt that, that's not the reason. Centauri wants you both. If you're going, then at least I'd be a little calmer knowing that she is staying here." The cat just nodded, making it clear that she understood the dog's concern.

They went silent, and the only sound was the television turned on for a few seconds, before a scream was heard from upstairs.

"What?!" And it was followed by another, louder one. "How dare you?!"

The strength in both was such that it made all of them three jump; before they could ask, Penny's clearly annoyed voice sounded again.

"You better thank you're dead, because if you weren't, I'd kill you _right now!_ "

"I think… he doesn't know how to deal with girls after all."

"What could've made her so angry?"

" _Oh, nothing special,"_ The voice chuckled. _"I was just testing her patience with something that used to piss my sister of. Guess it works on all girls, though I don't know why. Anyway, she's furious with me right now, so I'll just wait 'till tomorrow to try her again. Anyway, see you."_

Once more, there was a minute of silence before anyone said anything. This time it was Rhino.

"Should we call it a day?"

Mittens stretched and yawned. "Yeah, let's call it a day, rodent."

The three of them headed upstairs with no hurry at all. Once in Penny's room they saw the girl pacing back and forth without stopping, muttering things in a low voice. Every so, she would go to her bed, take her pillow and hit it a couple of times or press it against her face and give muffled screams, Whatever the dead prankster had told her must have touched a sensible filament. None of the three had ever seen her so angry before, and, based on what they were seeing, they decided never to provoke her until that point.

"I… guess she's still mad at Soul," Bolt mumbled.

"Yes, in fact I am," She replied without even turning to look at him, with an annoyed tone.

"For a moment I forgot she understands us," He said again, lowering more his voice.

Evading Penny and her relentless moves across the room, the animal trio reached into their beds without major mishap. Rhino got into his corner and inside his ball, which he was barely using by that time. Bolt and Mittens wen to his bed, as usual.

"Good night, guys."

"Good night, Rhino."

"Good night," Penny told them before taking her pillow again and punching it.

Mittens, with her head resting on Bolt's chest, fell asleep almost immediately, but the white shepherd was another situation. Apparently, the roles had been inverted, and now it was his turn to worry about the well-being of her, but of Penny, too. Knowing that both were determined to participate, and that Soul had picked one of the worst moments to joke, was making him nervous. Recalling what the spirit had said when the things were the other way around, he tried to stop his thoughts from that matter, knowing that the more attention he gave to the issue, the more likely it would be for it to come true. However, it was of little use.

Bolt kept thinking about it, unable to help it, until a movement took his attention. Mittens, and she seemed to be dreaming, with a smile on her face. _I envy you right now, cat,_ he though as he watched her sleep with a peaceful face. Cutting all of the thoughts that disturbed him, after Penny had also calmed down and gone to bed, Bolt closed his eyes, snuggled closer to Mittens and hoped to fall asleep.

 _Baby it's okay, someday…_

 _We've gotta hold on to what we've got_

 _It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not_

 _We've got each other, and that's a lot_

 _For love, we'll give it a shot._

 _Whoaaaaaa…_

"Silence!" An angry vixen interrupted, entering the room.

Mega snorted in frustration. "Why, oh why, when we were starting the _choir?"_ He asked in general.

Helang chuckled silently at his question. He had to admit that, in the short time since the truth had come to the light, both wolves had spent a lot of time on regenerating that lost bond. Most of it had been songs, but also storytelling time, and even jokes… from Mega, of course. The hawk couldn't see their energy through the cells, but he couldn't deny that this bond was being reformed indeed. _If it all goes well, they may even turn Omicron one day._

Kia's voice echoed through the room again. "Are you going to cooperate today?" She asked as her eyes went through the cells.

"We have nothing to do for you, Kia. Bolt has a mate."

"Shut up!" She demanded, standing up to the wolf in an admirable way, considering that mega was easily thrice her size. Though the cell in between them probably had an influence.

"Hey, Kia," Byte called. The vixen saw her making a gesture with her paw. Reluctantly, she went to Byte's cell.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"If you let me touch your leg, I can show you we're not lying," Byte said softly.

"What are you talking about?"

"I can show you some of my memories so you can see Bolt like he is."

"And how can I know it's not a trick?"

The she-wolf shrugged. "You can't. But normally, before jumping into conclusions, it's wise to look at all the versions of it, isn't it?" The vixen's face didn't change. "Okay, how about this? They're my memories, so I can't alter them; you'll see what I saw. You just have to open the glass a bit to slip my paw through."

Before she could answer, the Pitbull came in, ignoring anyone but Kia.

"They're calling us. They say it's urgent."

He left the room just as he finished his message.

Kia headed for the exit as well. She didn't seem to want to talk anymore, but she stopped at the door and sighed.

"In two days, at noon."

She didn't say more and left.

" _What's your plan, Byte?"_ Helang asked in her head.

" _I'm not sure, but if she's busy in my memories and opens the glass a little, we could try something, right? But we'll need Umbra's help. Kass, you know what to do."_

" _Roger that,"_ The cat answered.

" _With this, we may actually stand a chance. But we still have to get Bolt and…"_

"Actually, no," Kass said out loud.

"What?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I was thinking, about… the cells' color." A silence came back to the room. _"Sorry, my bad. Now, Umbra told me they don't have Bolt, or Mittens or Rhino with them. Centauri was just tricking us, he knew we wouldn't leave without them."_

" _Okay. Smart man. Anyway, then out priority is to get the hell out of here. WE must rest as much as we can."_

Everyone nodded and then got into either resting or thinking.

Meanwhile, Cenaturi was on his desk, taking to himself as usual.

"Very well. In two days it shall be." The guy smirked and raised a hand full of dark energy. "Two shadows and two days. By the end of the second one, they will all be in cages."

* * *

 **Yes, here it is. How do you think this rescue mission will be? What about Centauri's plans? Well, we're getting close to find out. Thanks to everyone that reads, follows and has this story on favorite; special thanks to Basbon and ShadowScare for reviewing constantly and for the support. Anyway, I've got nothing more to say, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	47. One busy morning

Chapter 47: One busy morning

It was almost midnight. Nevertheless, two young shadows had been woken up from their sleep by none other than their direct boss. As they followed Centauri into his office, the man was still thinking about all the possible results of all that mess, of course, omitting those that included anything not working for him; he still considered he could foresee any possible move his opponents could make, thus, he was sure he would stay one step ahead of them.

Once in the office, the guy opened the door and came in without waiting for the shadows, just making a gesture for them to follow. He circled the old, battered desk, sat on the chair and, only after the shadows had come in close enough, spoke:

"Very well," He began with a calm, neutral tone. "I would like to know what you have been doing these days in the afternoon."

The shadows exchanged a look, apparently deciding which one was going to speak. After a few seconds, both of them returned their eyes to Centauri and James took the floor.

"We've been playing, boss." Centauri raised an eyebrow, implying that he wanted a more complex explanation than that. James sighed. "Since our mentor usually gives us our chores on the morning, we finish them quickly and get the afternoon free for that, so we just go and have a bit of fun."

"Define 'have a bit of fun', little one." He asked as he got more comfortable on his chair.

James looked at Bud, who only shrugged, causing James to scold him with his glowing eyes, in an attempt to get his companion to talk, but the bigger shadow didn't open his mouth. The smaller one sighed again, and kept talking.

"Well… we go and have fun. I don't know, play, destroy… or whatever," James finished a little nervous.

"Then, if I were to register your memories there wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, right?" Centauri asked as he raised his hands and showed the shadows the dark energy that surrounded them.

Both shadows gulped, and Centauri noticed. However, before he could ask them something else, Bud stood firmly and gave a step towards him.

"We have nothing to hide, sir."

"Oh, really?" He questioned.

"Yes. Really."

"Okay," the man returned to his previous position, placed his hands behind his nape and raised his feet to the desk. "You may leave."

Both shadows relaxed their expression and began to retreat towards the exit. When they were about to reach the door, they heard a single word that paralyzed them.

"Thunderstrike."

As the word was spoken, the stood there, unmoving. Centauri stood up from the chair and, with all the calm of the world, walked towards them. He chuckled as he looked at both of the frozen shadows. "You know, I never thought the puppy would _actually_ make you capable of lying to me. I underestimated his luminosity, I guess. It's a mistake I won't repeat."

That being said, Centauri placed one hand on each one of the shadows' heads, while the energy from his hands changed its color to a dark blue one. As soon as the color change was over, he pressed on the forehead of each shadow while smiling.

* * *

" _Morning everybody!"_

Everyone with a connection to Soul, wherever they were, received his message. Penny, still annoyed with him, muttered something under her breath before getting out of bed and heading for the bathroom.

"Was it really necessary to do that?" Rhino asked from his sphere, before yawning. "What time is it?"

" _Forgive me for the lack of subtlety; I know it's still early, but… No, I've got nothing, I just wanted to wake y'all up today,"_ Soul's voice trailed off with a laughter.

"I don't know why he's been like that lately, but I don't like it. I think he chose the worst time to start joking."

"Who knows, Bolt," The hamster told him. "He is wise. Must have his reasons. Maybe there's a reason for that."

"Well, at least to me, it doesn't seem logical." The dog stretched and yawned. Then he realized Mittens wasn't there. "Hey, where's…?"

"She went downstairs," Rhino told him before he asked.

"I'll look for her," He told Rhino before leaving the room.

Bolt reached the first floor, where there was no soul. He searched the kitchen, the living room, everywhere, but there was no trace of Mittens. Finally he went out into the garden, where everything was totally silent. As a last resort was, as always, the barn, where he went next, being honest, somewhat concerned about the sudden absence of the cat. His thoughts began to ramble on things he had fought all night to push away. Unable to avoid it, he began to fear that some shadow had taken her away, or worse. Little did his fears last when he noticed the barn door slightly ajar. Pushing it gently, Bolt peeked through that door to find Mittens inside the barn, releasing attacks into the air.

The dog stood still and began to watch the cat train. Most of her attacks were clawing, although she knew how to move with exceptional speed and agility, even for a cat, and also threw punches or kicks with force and speed from time to time, all with her back to the door. After taking a few seconds, he made a decision. Trying not to make noise, he began to approach the cat, who kept moving from one place to another, still without turning. _I think it's a good way to check that we can take care of ourselves,_ he thought the can while he kept getting closer. When Bolt was half a meter away from Mittens, she turned around quickly, throwing a clawing attack with her paw. The dog didn't waste time and intersected Mittens paw with his, careful not to touch her claws, which were apparently charged with electricity.

She placed more strength on her leg; enough to get Bolt's out of its way and placed her claws near his neck, still charged. "How long have you been there?" She asked without moving her paw.

The shepherd smiled mischievously, confusing the cat. Seconds later, he used his other leg to move the cat's claws away from his neck and reverse the roles, placing his –much bigger paw– in front of her face. "About a minute, why? Can't I see you train?"

The cat didn't respond for a couple seconds, still having Bolt's enormous paw in front of her face. After thinking it for a while, she came up with an idea. "No, but it would be more practical if you did instead of just staring," She told him with a defiant tone as she pushed Bolt's paw and jumped backwards.

The dog smiled at such proposal and stepped back, too. "No grudges?" He asked, playfully and defiantly.

"What, for me beating you?"

"More like the other way around, right?"

"Are you staying there talking, or will you move?" The cat teased.

Bolt knew that she wouldn't attack until he did, so he started to run towards her. Being a couple feet from her, he stopped dead, just a few inches from a vertical scratch that cut the air. Before she had time to aim another one, the dog pounced on her. Using his weight and strength, with his paws on her shoulders, he pinned her to the ground.

"What were you saying?" Bolt teased now, knowing that she was probably going to do something.

Mittens didn't answer. Shortly after his question, Bolt felt a slight electrical shock that stunned him enough time for the cat to get out of his grip, pushing him with her hind legs. Then she tackled him, falling with his back to the floor, and the next thing he knew were five sharp claws near his neck again. Mittens smiled mischievously.

"What were _you_ saying, wags?"

The dog quickly studied the situation. If they kept like this they wouldn't train at all, they were just pushing each other around; so he decided to change his strategy.

While Mittens kept alert for any possible move on his part, Bolt subtly looked at the far end of the barn. After observing the site for a few seconds, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"What are you…?"

The cat didn't finish her sentence, for the impression of what had happened, he assumed. When he opened his eyes, he was actually at the far end of the barn. She looked at him, impressed, for several seconds; he, on the other hand, took the chance to retake some energy. He still was developing that ability.

"Are we… really training?" She asked at last.

The dog looked at her in confusion; apparently she was only playing with him. That, of course, until he teleported. "Weren't we?"

She began to stammer. "W-Well, yeah… b-but I… I thought we were… playing…"

Bolt looked at her for a moment. He couldn't know what her eyes were transmitting. Fear? Doubt? Whatever it was, he had to do something about it.

"W-Well, I thought that we could train together, spar a little, and see how we had progressed. After all, you have your healing knack, if anything went wrong." Her gaze didn't change, so he kept talking. "But if you don't want to, we can just play instead."

"No… no, I think we should train, too, but I don't want to hurt you."

"Come on, Mittens," He incited with a playful tone. "Besides, it's not like if it were _so_ easy to hurt me; and if it happened, you can use your knack, like I said." She looked at him and then lowered her gaze, thoughtfully, but still insecure. He tried another card, then. "Or you think you won't be able to beat me?"

Judging for the cat's reaction, he had hit the nail on the head: her pride as a former alley-cat. "What did you just say?" She asked, her eyes more determined than anything. "I faced bigger and stronger dogs back in the city, and declawed; I think I can handle a little pup that doesn't know how to measure his words."

Bolt grinned and stood in combat position. He had her, and two words sealed the deal.

"Prove it."

She fell for it. Mittens charged at Bolt, who was already getting ready to receive her with a blow. However, when she was close enough, she jumped over him, evading his attack, and fell hard on his back, making him lose balance and fall down.

The shepherd jumped back to his paws as fast as he could, having to throw himself back into the ground as soon as he did, since the cat had already launched another attack, trying to tackle him. Getting up once more, Bolt looked back just in time to see Mittens land gracefully despite having missed her attack, her back towards him. Before she turned around, he ran to her.

By the time Mittens had turned around, she had Bolt almost on her face. She couldn't avoid him, and the dog pinned her to the ground for the second time. The cat tried to use her same move to get out, but the shepherd had gone one step ahead of her, since he was holding her pinned by her wrists, making it impossible for her claws to touch his white fur.

Thinking quickly, she decided to take advantage of the fact that her opponent was also her mate, and began to rub her tail against his side. Immediately the dog opened his eyes in surprise and looked at her, blushing quite a lot, making her smile. In a matter of seconds the dog had stopped holding her firmly, and the cat quickly got out of his grip. Before he could realize what had happened he was already receiving another shock, followed by a strong push that forced him to retreat.

"That… that's cheating," He panted as he recovered from the shock.

"Why?" She questioned in a challenging tone.

The shepherd didn't find an argument, so he just finished recovering and started to make a plan. Quickly, before she could do something, he ran towards her again. Mittens, expecting another tackle, prepared to jump on his back when he were about to reach her. That didn't happen though. The dog stopped before reaching her and gave a stomp on the floor. Mittens tilted her head, confused by his actions, moments before feeling something weird on her leg. She looked down and understood.

The floor had imprisoned her paw and half of her leg, preventing her from moving freely. When she realized what was going on, she looked at Bolt, who was already charging towards her again. Unable to do anything else, she charged her claws to shock him when the time came, though she did try to free her leg, in vain, but she tried.

By the time the Shepherd was about to jump on her, Mittens redirected all of her energy to her free paw, ready to give him and electroshock he wouldn't forget in a hurry. As soon as he collided with her, with a head butt, she dug her claws deep into his side, so she received a blow, but he received a shock, too. Taking advantage that she was free now, and that he was stunned and couldn't pin her down, Mittens snuck under him to get away before he could grab her, not without giving his four legs one or two scratches.

Bolt recovered from the shock by shaking a little, that attack was getting into his nerves "shock this, shock that." In those minutes she had electrocuted him like four or five times, and he was just hitting and tackling her, giving her free way to electrocute him _again_. Feeling his legs burn in pain, he looked at the cat again, who looked confident and was sitting, licking one of her paws while moving her tail back and forth slowly. He had to attack from a distance, he knew it, but his strength was apparently speed and force, and the trick Kia taught him under development. _The heat-vision would be practical now… well, if I wanted to disintegrate Mittens,_ he thought as he watched her; her confidence made him think that she had the same conclusion as him: as long as he didn't attack from a distance, she had the winning hand.

Mittens was still sitting, she was willing to give him as much time as he needed to improve his strategy… or at least think of one. The dog had his eyes on the barn floor, and he kept them there for a couple more seconds before returning his gaze to Mittens. He quickly repeated the steps of his new technique in silence and got ready to fight. Ready for everything, except for the fact that when he looked back at Mittens, Mittens was no longer there. The shepherd frantically began to look for her in all directions, trying to find his mate and opponent. He didn't find her until he received a long scratch on his side. Then he saw Mittens trying to get out of his reach by running past him. Out of impulse, Bolt grabbed Mittens' tail with his teeth and pulled her back, giving her a couple of scratches –though weaker, since his claws were not for combat– before letting her go.

By then, both of them were getting tired; the use of energy and the blows both had received was making them weaker, though none would admit defeat. Bolt made up a small and simple plan, then ran towards Mittens again. The cat, knowing what was coming, charged her claws; however, once more, the floor trapped both of her hind legs. She ignored it and kept charging both of her free paws. Bolt was still accelerating towards her, and being close enough, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

"Don't you dare!" But the dog ignored her and teleported. When he opened his eyes he was still running towards Mittens, but from behind her, preventing her from clawing him while he rammed at her with almost all of his strength. The cat fell with her face first to the ground and coughed a couple of times. The dog ended on top of her, savoring his moment.

After a few seconds of no movement, Mittens suddenly turned quickly and kicked him with one of her hind legs full-charged with energy. The combination of physical and energetical strength sent him flying considerably far.

Bolt got back to his four tired, and saw that Mittens was in similar conditions. It was most likely that the one who connect another successful attack would win their little game. Then they would be able to heal themselves and get into other things.

"Tired?" He asked in between pants, with a playful tone.

"Almost as much as you," She answered with the same tone. The dog smiled then. "What are you planning, wags?"

"Oh, nothing important; just a small move I saved for the last part." Upon hearing that, Mittens smiled as well, making the shepherd get to a conclusion. "You too?"

The cat nodded, still smiling, and placed her paws close to each other, in the same was Rhino did for his energy spheres. A few sparks began to fly from her claws, staying in the space in between her paws. After checking that it was really working, she looked at him. "What's yours?"

Bolt chuckled. "You'll find it, fun and ironic." The dog then moved his right paw slightly forward, and his hindpaw on the same side slightly backwards, getting in a position that was very familiar to the cat.

"Is that…?" Bolt nodded and she smiled more. "Well, it _is_ fun and ironic."

While more sparks began to electrify the air between Mittens' paws, Bolt took several deep breaths, each one longer than the previous one. After doing it for what he felt was enough, he did it one last time and began to growl under his breath.

Both of them kept charging their final attack, curious more than anything, to see how they would interact in between them, or if they would. After two minutes of loading, Mittens moved her paws back and then threw her electrical sphere with a lot of boost. Noticing this, Bolt inhaled one last time and barked from the top of his lungs. The result was that one expected: a powerful sound wave came out and went straightly towards the big, purple electrical sphere. Fortunately, since the ability was under development, it wasn't strong enough to damage the barn; in fact, for what it was, it was considerably smaller, like an economical version.

Both attacks were considerably fast, yet it seemed like an eternity before they meted mid-air. When they did, something peculiar happened: the sphere pressed itself against the sound wave, and finally both attacks were shot back to their creators, at an amazing speed. Both of them had to get out of the way of their own attack, basically throwing themselves to the floor, since they wouldn't have had time for anything else. Barely evading the attacks, they both looked at the collateral damage: On Mittens' side, the wood was black in the radius where the sphere had struck, with some sparks still jumping here and there. On Bolt's side, there was a small crater that let him see into the exterior of the barn.

The turned to look at each other and no words were needed. None was in condition to continue, not for one second. They walked to the center of the barn at a slow pace and, once close enough, he spoke first.

"Tie?"

"Tie," She confirmed. After that, they kissed.

"Be-awesome!" They heard from the door.

They broke the kiss and looked at the door.

"Rhino?" They asked at a time.

"How long have you been there?" Bolt added.

"More or less since you tackled her. The first time," He answered while shrugging. "And I think you should know I'm not the only one."

That being said the barn's door opened fully, revealing that everyone had been a spectator on their little practice.

"What…?" Neither of them finished the question.

"Well, since the plan is almost ready and you were occupying the barn, we decided to stay and watch," Flor said.

"That and the fact that, by the time we arrived, Rhino was already here," Beta added.

Penny arrived a few seconds later and greeted everyone. Apparently she was in a better mood. That, until she saw a crater in the barn.

"What happened there?" She asked pointing to it. Everyone in the entrance pointed to the male of the couple that was inside. The girl followed the paws with her eyes, not fully understanding. "Bolt?"

"Err… well, I may have… made a hole in the wall," He answered nervously.

"Yes, I noticed," She told him. "But how did you do it?"

"It was a real life superbark!" Rhino interrupted before Bolt could tell her.

The girl looked at the hamster, who was nodding and laughing excitedly. "A superbark?" She asked, then looked at Bolt, that also nodded. "Really?"

"Yes. Bolt and I were training, and, uh, I guess the rest is noticeable."

"H-How did you manage areal superbark?" The girl asked, more intrigued than annoyed by the hole.

"Before that, I think we should finish planning our rescue," Alpha intervened. "Bud and James said they would come earlier today to help us with the last details."

Everyone nodded and then got into the barn, closing its doors behind them. A slight breeze could be felt, and it wasn't coming from the door precisely. Penny looked at the crater, still wondering how Bolt could have done such a thing, an invention for a TV show, for real.

"I'm sorry," The dog muttered.

"Oh, no, it's fine," She assured him. "My mom will make me fix it, but it's no big deal." _Though I'll have to think of some excuse for her._

The meeting circle was formed and everyone got into talking while they waited. Ten minutes later, the two shadows entered the barn through the walls and made presence.

"You're right in time." Both of them nodded neutrally to Alpha's affirmation. "Did you have any trouble for getting here?" Similarly, slowly and almost mechanically, they shook their heads at the same time.

"We have news," James said neutrally. Before continuing he looked at Bud, who nodded and then began to move his head, as if he had water stuck in his ear and were trying to get it out. "The boss wants… will call a lot of shadows tomorrow afternoon, so we recommend to striking in the morning."

"Do you know how could we get in?" Delta asked.

The shadow ignored the question. "To noon at latest, since it's the time when the guards…"

"Hello?" The Labrador retriever insisted.

"…take a break, of about ten minutes."

Everyone realized something was wrong with them. C'mon, they needn't a detective to notice. James was still speaking, throwing up technical points about the building and repeating again and again that the attack should be in the morning, around noon. Bud wasn't talking, just moving his head repeatedly. Three times quickly, three times slowly, and so on. Both had their sight lost.

"What's with them?" Rhino asked in general.

There was no immediate response, everyone was trying to tell what was it. Mittens, not knowing why, focused her attention in Bud's movement of head. Three times fast, three times slow… three fast and three slow… The last time she had seen that pattern was in…

"Bolt," She whispered to him.

"What's wrong, Mittens?" He asked her.

"They're asking for help," She pointed to Bud. "Centauri's done something to them."

"Hmm… I think I know what to do," Then he looked for a hamster on the other side of the barn and raised his voice. "Rhino, come here, please."

The hamster complied without hesitation and went straight to the dog. "What is it, Bolt?"

The dog looked at Mittens, who explained what she was thinking.

"I think I know how to help them," Bolt added at the end.

"How?"

"Well, one of us is the pillar, and it can do anything, right?"

"Ok, I get it. But Soul said that we could only clean shadows that agreed to it."

"I think those two agreed to getting cleaned since they started befriending Bolt, rodent."

"And it's my only idea," Bolt put in. "If we don't take the chance we'll never know."

The three looked at the shadows. Bud was still asking for help in Morse, while James wouldn't shut up.

"Okay, what do we do then?"

"We don't know who the pillar is," Bolt explained. "So we'll all tackle the shadow at once."

"So, if you follow the ventilation duct V-33, in the reception, you can go up straight into…"

"Now!"

Before anyone could react, Bolt, Mittens and Rhino jumped on James, knocking him down. There was a struggle of a few seconds, before a glow covered the shadow, which let out a sigh of relief when it disappeared.

"Thanks," He muttered in a weak voice.

The three smiled at him and then turned around to do the same to Bud.

"Well, couldn't you have done it before? I think I disfigured my neck," The shadow growled once it was freed.

"What was all that?" Someone behind them asked.

"Centauri was controlling us," James explained as he got up. "Last night the called us to his office and then… blurry. But I woke up with an irresistible desire of convincing you to try your attack at noon tomorrow. I wasn't even able to say anything not related to that."

"That's why I was asking for help in Morse," Bud went on. "Umbra taught us a bit, but apparently not to you."

"Only Mittens knows a little bit of Morse; Kass is the only one who knows the whole code."

"Centauri then wants to lead us into a trap. He wants us to make the rescue tomorrow at twelve," Beta concluded.

"Let's… do it."

"What?" Alpha looked at Peep, confused.

"If he's waiting for us… at noon… and the dist-racion group goes at that time… he'll think the shadows raised no suspiciouns. Then… stealth group… can work better. When we free our friends… we can… fight our way out, if necessary."

"Well, he has a point. In addition, Centauri thinks he can predict every move you make. You should give him a false sensation of security for a while."

"Yeah, it could… hey, James, didn't you just said 'Centauri' instead of 'The Boss'?"

"What's with that, rodent?"

"No, it's important," Bud looked at his companion. "It means we… we're free. If I can call him Centauri, it's because my programming that forced me to call him "Boss" is gone! James, we're free!"

Both shadows got infected with an euphoria that made them celebrate, floating around the barn inn some weird kind of dance.

"I don't want to interrupt," Penny called after seeing them for some minutes. "But won't Centauri kill you if he finds out?"

"Right." James paused a moment. "We'll have to pretend we're not free to keep our skins. And we'll help you from the inside. If we manage to convince him that you fell into his trap, we'll turn into double agents." There was a spark of difference in the shadow's voice.

"Very well, then we'll go to the building tomorrow noon..."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I think tonight would be better. You can observe the building and maybe learn a thing or two," Bud interrupted.

"Okay," Alpha resumed. "Then tonight, we'll sleep there and go in tomorrow at noon. Distraction team will 'fall' in Centauri's trap. Stealth will go to the cages and free our friends. Then we'll meet with distraction and get out of there."

"Okay."

"Meanwhile, you two should make sure that Centauri doesn't find out. For your own good."

"And for the mission," James completed.

"Yes, but your lives are equally important. Concentrate on not losing them."

"Of course, Alpha."

* * *

 **And this is it. Next chapter, ooh... you'll get to know what happenss in the rescue mission. Yep, I let it slip for one more week before telling you. Anyway, thanks as always, to everyone that reads this; special thanks to Basbon and ShadowScare, always commenting and keeping me motivated. Guess that's all I have to say right now, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	48. In adult ears

Chapter 48: In adult ears

Penny's P.O.V.

"Very well, young lady, I want to know where you were all night, right now!" My mom almost shouted with a force that I haven't heard before. Then she went on, without giving me time to answer. "I come home and you're not here; there's a hole in the barn; I called to your school and your teachers didn't even know you were back! What's this all about?!"

Before replying I waited for a few seconds, just to make sure that she wasn't going to add something else. Her eyes were fixed on me and they spat out a fury that would surely frighten Centauri himself. I tried to think of an excuse that would cover all of it: the crater in the barn, my absence to school, the disappearance from the previous night –including the one of the six furry animals that live in this and the neighbors' houses–, my clothes dirty and worn, but I didn't find anything that would cover all of it in the few seconds I had before her gaze intensified more, if that was even possible, telling me that she wanted an answer. I swallowed and prepared myself for what was coming.

"I-I can't tell you."

Now, if looks killed, she would've killed me with her eyes right then. "What do you mean 'I can't tell you'?! Do you work for the CIA, the NSA or something like that, so that you can't tell me?!" Then her tone softened, like her tone. "What's wrong, sweetheart? What's going on?"

" _It's time. Tell her the truth."_

 _Get out of my head, Soul! I don't want to talk to you!_

" _Oh, come on,"_ Soul complained. _"I'll tell you why I did it, eventually."_

 _Still, I'm mad at you!_

I actually wasn't, that much, but he still owed me a couple of apologies.

" _Okay, okay; but I think she should know. Maybe even the neighbors,"_ Before I even thought of the answer, he kept going. _"And I say no more, just consider it."_

I thought for a few seconds on what he had said; then I tried to make an excuse again, before getting pulled back to reality by a scream.

"Penny Forrester, you listen to me when I'm talking to you!" You're getting grounded for two months, one for whatever you've been doing and another one for not listening!" I sighed in defeat and looked at her in the eye. "I want to know what's happening. And I want the truth," She sentenced.

"Fine. But you won't believe me. And maybe you want to bring Diego and Fer here, this is of their concern, too."

In a matter of seconds, mom was out. She came back as quickly as she left, with the neighbors behind her, their expression confused and worried.

"What's the matter, Penny?" Fer asked once they both aware of everything.

I sighed again and moved a little on the couch. The three adults were in front of me, and the six animals were sitting close by, but out of the frame. In any case, it wouldn't make it better for me to tell them I could understand animals.

"Well, I, uh…"

"Yes?"

I cleared my throat. "I'm part of a team that's fighting to restore the balance between the light and the dark; Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, Jonathan, Pepe and Flor are part of that team. Three other dogs, some Labrador Retriever siblings, an orange cat, two wolves and a hawk are part of the team too. Our 'leader' is the guy who saved us the day we found Flor, though he's dead, so… yeah, he guides us from the other side. Between all of us, we're facing a dark threat, an organization that want to sink the planet into the shadows," I said at once. When I finished, panting, all three of them were looking at me like I was a weirdo.

"How's that?" Diego asked, surprising. I really didn't think they would believe me a bit. But there it was, he was giving me an opportunity to explain myself.

I took a breath and organized my knowledge about this.

"Okay, telling you everything would take me two days, so I'll tell you the basics to begin with. Later we'll discuss where I was last night." Receiving three small nods, I tried to think of the best starting point.

"Where do I start? First of all, you'll have to believe me, after that I'll show you. Things are not what they seem like; there's a whole world living and functioning under our noses. Everything people in general consider as fiction is, in fact, possible. As I said, there's a dark organization, and we're trying to stop them, but not in a common way; both sides use extraordinary skills to fight. Imagination is the limit, so any attack is possible: Telepathy, teleport, telekinesis, to begin with. There are also skills revolving around the four elements, but on the end everything works as one asks for it, so there's no actual guide to tell what's possible what's not."

Again, they looked at me like I was crazy.

"I'll call the psychiatrist," My mother said, getting up to reach for the phone.

"Wait," Diego stopped her. "Let her finish."

"Why?"

"Trust me, I didn't understand one word either. But I think I could if she explained a little more."

My mother seemed convinced and sat back down. Fer took the floor and asked sweetly.

"Penny, why don't you tell us how did you end up in this mess?"

"Sure, but I wasn't the first one to make contact with them."

"Who was it, then?"

I pointed to one side, where the pest were. "Bolt was."

Before my mom could confirm her decision of calling the psychiatrist I made a gesture to Bolt for him to come over. "Could you tell me more about when you met Mega, Byte and Helang?"

"Sure," bolt barked. And I'm sure, the adults only heard him bark. Then he began to tell me, and I would re-tell it to the adults.

"He says it was several months ago. The same day we went to visit the cousins. He woke up early from a nightmare and went to the garden to think, where he found two smells that were not familiar to him. He decided that he would go out and find the owners of those smells, but he got lost and he was attacked by a… really? And why…? Oh." By then, for the third time, they were seeing me as if I were a phenomenon. "Sorry. He says he was attacked by a Pitbull and almost killed, but that someone else intervened. It was one of the two wolves I mentioned. From there, Bolt began to get into all that and train, Mittens and Rhino did soon after. Soul told me that Flor, when we picked her up, had a shadow in her mind…"

"What are those 'shadows' you talk about?"

I sighed and organized everything I knew about the shadows. And so, part by part, they learned everything I had learned. The whole thing took about two hours. When I was done I waited for some eternal minutes for them to react.

"I'll call the psychiatrist," My mom repeated.

 _Well, thanks. Thanks, too, Soul. What good did it do to tell them?_

" _Give me a moment. Meanwhile, you can remind her about the hole in the barn with no explanation."_

"True!" I shouted, getting everyone's attention. "If you don't believe me, how can you explain the crater in the barn?" My mom stood still when she heard me. "Because it has no logical explanation, does it?"

" _Take them outside. Let your neighbors see the crater and tell them the truth."_

I obeyed Soul's instructions and did as he told me. When I was done showing them the hole in the wooden wall, my mom seemed a little less eager to send me to a mental institution.

"Very well, young lady, tell us how it happened."

"The truth?"

"Yes. The truth."

"Bolt superbarked it." Now it wasn't only my mom, but the neighbors too, who looked at me like the typical child playing to be spider-man, or that want to have superpowers. "He did!"

"That's enough. Tomorrow I'll take you to the psychiatrist." Then my mom turned to the couple. "I'm sorry for wasting your time."

"No it's okay, the stories were good anyway." Diego looked at me. "You almost had me, Penny, but you gotta know when to stop."

 _So, done. What good was this for, Soul?_

" _Three, two, one."_

There was a howl in the distance, followed by another one, a little higher. The noise made the adults stop and turn around. My mom still had the phone in one hand.

" _Show them what you can do,"_ Soul suggested.

 _What?! Are you crazy?_

" _No more than_ they _think_ you _are."_

"I thought there were no wolves around here," My mom called. "Better call animal control."

"No! They're Mega and Byte, they're not dangerous!"

"Enough, young lady! To your room, now!" Without waiting for my answer, with the neighbors still there, she began to dial the phone. I didn't know if she was calling animal control or a mental institution; whichever it was, I was sure that I didn't want that phone call to be made, so I did the only thing I thought of. I reached out my hand, opened my palm and pulled the phone of my mother's hand. The device flew from her hand into mine, with three stunned looks over me.

"Oh, don't mind me. Surely you're just imagining it," I taunted while playing with the phone on my hand.

"W-What… h-how…?"

"I told you how. I've repeated it all day long. Still don't believe me? Fine. Soul, assemble the group, will you?"

" _Roger that, lioness!"_

The adults' expression turned more amazed after hearing the voice. They started looking in all directions, much to my amusement.

"That was Soul, they dead guy I told you about. He's crazy, but his help has been fundamental to this. And, he trained Mega, Byte and Helang."

" _Assemble!"_

Seconds later, the six pets came outside.

"What did he call us for, Penny?" Bolt asked me.

"For certain adults to believe me where have I been this time. Plus, the events of last night."

Two minutes later, Alpha, Delta and Kass arrived. Five minutes after them, the whole team was there, and the faces of the adults were so funny I had to make an effort not to laugh.

"Let me introduce you to Mega, Byte, Helang, Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Kass," I said while pointing to each in turn.

" _And if you liked that, wait to see our supersonic combo!"_ Soul said with infomercial voice. _"We'll include, not one, but two electric heaters for your feet! Call while this commercial lasts!"_

 _Like I said: He's crazy._

"Is it enough proof, or do they need to do something too?"

"They… they have skills too?" Fer asked astonished.

I was tired of it already, so I looked at the team and nodded. Everyone then made, in turns, a demonstration of their power. Bolt was the last one and, in request, he made a superbark, clearing any possible doubt.

"That… was amazing," I heard Diego mutter. And he was the only one of the three who actually said something.

"Well, I think it's obvious that this doesn't come out of here, for obvious reasons as well, right?"

"Sure," Fer said, just emerging from the impression the little show had caused on her. "Now, could you tell us what happened last night? They really had Johnny in a cage?"

"Sure, but let's go inside." I turned to the team. "Thanks guys, you can go now."

We all came back inside, though I heard Bolt asking Mega how could they have gotten out of the cages.

"I can tell you today if you want, but I think Sancho feathers should, since he also owes us an explanation," He probably meant Helang. Mega then looked at me. "Let Penny tell them her version of it, so she can listen to ours,"

Bolt nodded and I went inside to explain where I had been the night before.

* * *

From the rubble of a building that was almost completely destroyed, with its two first floors and a piece of the third one being the only exceptions, a figure emerged. Debris and dust dirtied his clothing, his fine suit that on that very morning had been of good quality. However, despite having his base almost in ruins and lost his prisoners, he had a strange tranquility on his face.

While some of his subordinates were cleaning whatever they could, the guy found an old chair, almost destroyed but usable, and sat on it.

"Sir," A Shadow called from a certain distance, coming close to him.

"What do you want, Ben?"

The shadow wasn't able to find an explanation for the attitude of his boss, so calm, in that situation.

"W-What are we going to do?" Asked the shadow.

The guy just backed into his chair and raised his feet on a piece of the desk that was stable enough to resist. After a minute or two, he replied.

"Finish cleaning this. Then make enough reparations for the building to hold everyone and rest."

"Sir?"

"Oh, you meant what to do regarding those idiots?" Ben nodded slowly. "Leave them." The poor shadow was every time more confused, but Centauri gave it no time to ask. "I know we lost the prisoners, we lost a lot of energy and that Kia and the Pitbull are in critical condition because of the explosion, like I know Psyon's staff survived it. But I know I have enough energy on the basement, at least twice than what we lost. I also know that soon this will come to an end." He finished with a smile.

"This was a part of your plan?" Ben asked.

"No. But since they don't know what my plans are, they can't spoil them totally. Sure, we lost some supplies and the base, so what? Despite their efforts, I'm almost done with phase two. Now go and do something useful."

Ben just nodded, not understanding fully. While leaving, Cnetauri added, "And Ben… when you finish, prepare the stadium. A match is coming, and we have to win it."

The shadow nodded again and left. It began to move debris with the others. Some feet away there were seven shadows. Three of them were checking Kia, and the other four were with the Pitbull. Both of them had plenty of wounds, their pelts more than dirty with dust and cinder, and bleeding heavily. Like the boss had mentioned, in between the debris three orange crystals were shining, aligned, confirming that the staff was still in one piece.

A few shadows were given the work of repairing the builing, or build four walls for everyone to be inside it at least. However, it was more than obvious that they weren't programmed for building, since all they were doing was place wooden plates one on top of another and placing them together with nails, like a treehouse… a very ugly and basic treehouse. Ben just kept on picking up debris, wondering if his boss was still in his right mind.

* * *

 **Well, I lied, you have to wait _another_ week to know about the rescue, in a flashback. Yes, this is the day after it. Turned out pretty messy, huh? Specially since Penny had to tell her mother the truth. And, well I don't know if this would be a compensation, but the rescue will be seen from all the different possible perspectives (How many? Wait and see. Clue: not one per character.) in the same amount of chapters, one chapter per perspective. Special thanks to Basbon, always commenting, and thanks to everyone else that reads (In whichever time you read it. Who knows? Maybe it's 2027 and you found this story, right?) That's al I have to say right now, nos vemos luego! **


	49. (Fb) To the rescue

Chapter 49: (Flashback) To the rescue

Penny's P.O.V.

It was almost ten-thirty, and we were moving around the city in silence. The only thing on the streets, besides us, were the headlights that slightly illuminated the path we were following. About ten minutes later we arrived to an empty alley, close enough, and agreed to sleep there.

"Alright. We'll take turns in guarding so we can all get enough sleep. Tomorrow will be a moved day," Alpha declared.

While she and her sister got some boxes for us to sleep on, I got to thinking. A couple of hours before I had spoken to Soul. The guy had tried to convince of staying home, but that was just on the outside, because I would say it looked more like if he were taunting me to come, and Bolt could testify on that. Maybe I'm not as dead as he is, or have all of that knowledge to my disposal, but I'm not dumb; he's planning something.

A small shake brought me back to reality. It was Alpha.

"Huh?"

"Sorry to interrupt you, Penny, but everyone is tired, including me, so I wanted to know if you could take the first watch." It was so obvious that she was exhausted, I could see the effort she had to make to keep her eyes open, so I nodded softly, making her eyes shine for a moment. "Thanks. We'll take it in one or two hours. Wake me or Peep when you're tired."

I smiled.

"Go to sleep, I'll be fine."

I saw in her eyes the gratitude her mouth was too tired to express before turning around and going to lie down next to Peep. Flor was on his other side and, since both girls were bigger than him, the little guy was barely visible in between them. Beta was curled up and Rhino was close to her, snoring in his ball. Bolt and Mittens were huddled together, smiling. But someone was missing. I looked silently for Delta all over the alley, but couldn't find him. When I was about to get up and look for him, I felt a warm thing besides me. It was him, lying next to me. I didn't want to wake him up so I kept silent. He surprised me, talking to me after some minutes.

"Sorry. Couldn't sleep."

"Don't worry, it's cool to have company at this time, someone to talk to," I said, ironically, before we fell into a silence.

"Can I tell you something?" He asked in a very hushed voice after a few minutes.

"Sure,"

For a few seconds he was silent, as if doubting whether he should really say it. "I'm lonely," He whispered at last.

That surprised me a lot. I didn't think anyone in the group felt lonely. WE had all each other, and he had his sisters and his father, adoptive or not, and uncles and friends. Me included. "Why, if you…?"

"Have all of you? I know that, but I wasn't referring to that kind of solitude." He pointed into the alley with one leg. "Lonely… regarding that."

I turned my head and understood. Delta was pointing to Bolt and Mittens, still huddled together in their sleep.

"Oh. Well… I don't know what to say…"

"Don't," He told me. "I just wanted to say it out loud without Alpha losing her head over it."

Yeah, but I felt like I had to tell him something. I couldn't leave him to his loneliness. "Well, if there's one thing Soul never gets tired of repeating is that the pieces get themselves together. Maybe in time you'll meet someone, perhaps you know her already…"

"Oh, really?" He interrupted, half amused and half sarcastic. "Let's count the girls I know, will you? First of all, you; and I think not. Aunt Byte… also no. Alpha and Beta are my sisters. Mittens, a) is not my species and b), since 'a' apparently doesn't matter, has a mate; and Flor is interested in Peep. Besides the fact that I only see them as friends."

"Okay, okay, you don't know her. But you someday will. Just don't try to force it."

Like with Alpha, the dog's eyes shone in silent gratitude. "Thanks," He said before getting up and going to lie besides Beta.

The rest of the hour went by quickly. At first I thought I would manage to do a second one, but my eyelids began to feel heavy and I knew I wouldn't last, so I went to Peep and woke him up for the next guard.

* * *

The next morning I was the first one to get up, about ten o'clock. I moved my hand intending to say good morning to Beta without making noise, since she was on guard. Half an hour later, Bolt was the next one to open his eyes.

"Morning, Bolt,"

"Good morning," He replied as he yawned. "What time is it?" He asked as he turned to be facing me.

"Ten thirty, more or less. We still need breakfast and check the plan one more time."

As I said that he lowered his head, worried apparently. Then his gaze got lost. I would say he was talking to Soul. It didn't took long before Mittens opened her eyes. When she saw Bolt like that, she licked his cheek, bringing him back.

"Morning, wags," She said sweetly.

"Good morning, Mittens," He answered with the same tone.

"Morning," Rhino's voice came from the back of the alley.

"These boxes are uncomfortable," Alpha complained drowsily.

"We can consider ourselves lucky we found the boxes, and the alley, Alpha. Animals would kill for living like this," Beta told her.

While the others were waking up, I heard a voice in my head. Helang.

" _Hi, Penny, I need to ask you a favor. I know you're about to come get us, and that you're part of the distraction team. How or why doesn't matter now. I need you to sneak into the research lab of the building while your team makes its part. Find the master's staff and touch every one of its crystals for a couple of seconds. That's all; thanks."_ Communication was cut before I could even finish processing it.

Everyone was awake by the time I noticed. We had breakfast and headed for the building, but I was still thinking on what Helang had told me. _Weren't they locked up? In special cages that would prevent that sort of thing? Is it a trap? I mean, we're_ walking _into a trap. He wouldn't make another trap, would he? Did Centauri found out about Bud and James? Okay, I'm not accomplishing anything. Uh… if I casually bump into the lab, I'll do what Helang asked. If not, nothing 'terrible' could happen, right?_

" _Yeah, unless you screw it,"_

 _Shut up, Soul!_

"We're here."

And there we were. I checked the time. Five minutes for noon.

"Okay, I'll keep you updated with our progress. If something goes wrong, let us know," Beta said.

We made a quick, last, check for the plan, and when the five minutes were gone we split up and entered the building. As James had said, no shadows in sight. We didn't waste time, found the ventilation duct the shadows had mentioned, got inside and climbed it. It was an odyssey. We all slipped at least twice; not even Mittens, with her claws, had it easy. When we reached level six we began to move horizontally. It took us some minutes to find our exit. Delta, who was ahead of all, opened it with a punch. Then we all got outside of the duct and began to move along the multiple doors and rooms.

"Keep it quiet," Flor whispered.

After walking in a straight line for some minutes, I saw a door with a sign on the side, reading: "Research" Since I was at the tail of the group, it wasn't hard for me to detour without them noticing. I found some stairs, and walked them. At the end there was a door, slightly ajar, with noises coming from the other side. I stood against the doorframe and began to listen. Two shadows, and they were talking.

"Were are the punks, huh?"

"Working on the trap. Boss sent them; after all, if we get rid of everyone today, we can take care of the staff with all the calm we want to."

"But it's impossible! We've tried everything and the stupid stick isn't changing"

"We'll have to find a way, or Boss will get mad. A lot."

 _Okay, here I go._

I peered into the room. One of the shadows had its back towards me, and it was covering my presence from the other one. _I can get the first one from behind, but the problem will be the other one._

I backed and got into planning. While I was on it, Beta's voice distracted me. _"Uh, guys? I think you should know this. The cells are… empty."_

I thought Delta would answer, but it was Bolt. _"What do you mean?"_

" _Just like that. But it's not the weirdest thing. One of them still has the door sealed and pressurized, but no one's inside. Moreover, Kia is here."_

" _Kia?!"_

" _Unconscious. On the floor, eyes closed, but breathing."_

" _Bring her with you,"_ Bolt asked immediately. Since there was no response, I imagined both groups were discussing his request.

I focused back on my part. The shadows were still talking, so I went back to my original plan. I kneeled down and began to crawl towards the shadows. They were so distracted they didn't even notice me. Then, almost like Bolt used to do in the series, I placed a hand out and hit the shadow in the head with all of my strength. It fell down with a thud, but before I realized I had taken one, the other one lunged at me. I fell to the ground, totally helpless, while the shadow moved towards me and raised an arm in a menacing way. I closed my eyes, but heard another thud. I opened one and saw the shadow lying next to me.

 _What…?_

" _Now you owe me one. You see why I was insisting on you staying?"_

 _Shut up, Soul._

" _Stop arguing and do what Helang asked you to."_

 _How do you know about that? Why are you acting like an idiot lately?_

"And what did you do?" I asked aloud, getting up. I looked at the cane, and it had one of its crystals glowing brightly.

" _I did nothing. He did. But since it's my property, I guess you can say you owe me one. Now hurry and touch the crystals."_

I didn't answer him, he was being a jerk lately. I merely did what I had been asked to do and then turned to leave. When I was about to, Soul spoke again.

" _Look, a piece of wood. If I were you I would take it,"_

Again, I didn't answer. I just listened, but I wasn't going to talk to him until he apologized. And knowing him, I wasn't going to hear the apology for a long time.

" _Penny!"_

 _What's wrong, Bolt? You okay?_

" _We've met everyone again. We thought you were caught."_

 _I'm fine, Bolt, just got distracted with something. Where are you?"_

" _We're heading to the exit, following the same route we took to get up, but using the stairs."_

 _I'll see you there._

I held tight to my makeshift weapon and began to accelerate my pace. As I kept moving forward, somehow, I began to feel annoyed. After I reached the place where I detoured, Soul began to talk.

" _At this pace, by the time you get there,_ nobody _will be here."_ I tried to ignore him, but he was behaving like a shadow, and that was low even for him. " _I thought your condition was better."_

" _Hurry up."_

" _Good night, Penny."_

" _Happy New Year"_

For childish they were, his comments were making me angry. More and more. When I reached the ventilation duct I almost went down in it, before remembering that they had taken the stairs.

" _Better for you, because I bet you'd have fallen down the duct and bye, bye, discretion."_

 _Shut up, Soul! Now!_

" _Alright. Just keep that anger on what's about to happen."_

I couldn't figure what he was talking about. Before I knew it I was on the first floor. I crossed a couple of doors and found everyone, literally. All of the animals were there, as well as about a hundred shadows per each one of them and, importantly, Centauri himself. He and his shadows had their backs on me, so it was possible that he hadn't spotted me. _"Now, don't screw it,"_ Soul said, adding fuel to the fire. _"Punch him."_

I turned my attention to the guy, who was monologizing about his prediction and some other things. As I got closer, I almost felt sorry for him.

"and the most important thing, little animals, is that nothing, absolutely nothing, escapes my perception."

And then I hit him on the head with my piece of wood, using all of the anger Soul had caused on me. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Nothing, except that," Mega said triumphantly. Moments later the shadows were on us.

Three went for me. I hadn't trained for combat in all that time, my training had always revolved around meditations, so I felt scared for a moment.

" _You can manage,"_ Soul told me with his normal voice. No sarcasm, no childish taunting. _"When we get out of this, I'll explain why I did that. Now go for it, lioness."_

Lioness. He had never called me that, but I liked it. It made me feel strong and capable. With that combination of euphoria and emotion, I let go of my wooden weapon and turned to the closest shadow. I stretched my arm, opened my hand and pointed towards it; then I moved it brusquely to my left. The shadow was shot into that same direction at an incredible speed. _Yes!_ After doing it several times I began to try with both hands, throwing one two shadows at a time. However amazing it was for me, I was aware that I was only throwing them, so if they weren't knocked out by it, they would get up again.

After throwing two shadows at a time, one in each direction, I saw in the middle of the battle that four of them were trying to get a hold of Jonathan, literally one in each leg. I moved in his direction and pointed my arm, but I hesitated. _What if I hurt him?_

" _That won't happen. Unless, of course, you want it to. This all molds to your will, so knock the shadows and 'ignore' John."_

Trusting Soul's advice, with whom I was still mad but wouldn't argue now, I opened my palm 'pointing' strictly to the shadows. It was a success; the four shadows detached from the dog's legs and were thrown out. John looked at me gratefully, before returning to the battle.

I looked into the battlefield. Almost all of them were down. Centauri was still lying there, unconscious. _How could I bring down this giant who trained with Soul, and should have a super-developed premonition?_

" _You hit him with a piece of wood on the head."_

 _I didn't mean that, silly. I meant that he didn't perceive me while I sneaked up on him._

" _I'll tell… duck!"_

Because of the sudden raise in his voice, I didn't hesitate. A few inched above me a shadow passed, fleeing at full speed. Before I raised again, Peep passed exactly the same above me. The little guy threw himself towards the shadow then and bit it hard on one arm, so hard I even heard something breaking. When the specter managed to get free of his grip, it fled and I heard him shout:

"Don't you ever come near her again!"

I turned around and understood. Flor was wounded on one leg and lying down with a small pool of blood around that wound. I also noticed that the shadow Peep had driven out was the last one capable of fighting in the room. The group was, given the circumstances, okay. Some scratches and bites here and there, but nothing more. The worst wound was Flor's, which they were already going to treat; but before Mega or Byte could cure it, Helang spoke.

"Better do that in a safe place."

There were affirmations in general, and Bolt walked in the middle of the group.

"Grab me," He instructed. "Don't let go."

One by one we all grabbed Bolt from somewhere.

"Ready? Well, here we go. One. Two. Three!"

Then I felt something strange and got quite dizzy, as if I had climbed a roller coaster at a speed that was too high. I closed my eyes for a moment and, when I opened them back, we were back in the barn. It was amazing, but I was too tired to ask. Without saying anything, I noticed everyone was the same. There was no energy left, nor strength, nor will to get out of there; so, after getting Flor treated, we all lay down in the barn to rest for a while. It didn't matter, nothing did. After all, we had rescued them.

* * *

 **Okay, this is it. Doubts? Probably. But that's why there will be more chapters, with characters that were more involved into the little number. You'll see who in a week, and two and three. Special thanks to Basbon and ShadowScare, always reviewing the story. Guess that's all I have to say right now, nos vemos luego!  
**


	50. (Fb) Distraction

Chapter 50: (Flashback) Distraction

Bolt's P.O.V.

We were on our way to the exit of the building, all together and the only thing that mattered was getting out of there. In fact, it had been easier than I expected. Too much actually…

"Stop right there!" A voice screamed, causing the building's doors to close. I didn't have to turn around to know that it was Centauri. "Well, well, well, it looks like I keep underestimating you. But it doesn't matter, since by the time this day's done," He smiled grimly. "There will be no one left for me to underestimate."

Before giving us the chance to react, he pulled Mittens towards him and grabbed her by the neck, cutting off her air. "Okay, Bolt, you have caused me way too much trouble, and now I'll return the favor!"

"Bolt!" Mittens yelled half-heartedly.

"Leave her alone, if you want to fight, here I am!"

"You're so predictable, puppy. If want, we can fight, yes. I'll even place a bet."

"A bet?"

"Yes, a bet," he repeated. "Look, if you win Mittens lives. If I win, Penny lives."

I froze there. "What?"

Centauri smiled more and stepped aside, letting me see Penny being held by two shadows, half beaten up.

"Bolt!"

"Although, why fight?" Centauri intervened. "Better do it the old way," And he faced me. "Who will live, Bolt? Your person, or your mate?"

I watched them both. Mittens' eyes were tearing, and it was pretty predictable if Centauri wasn't letting breathe properly. Penny's weren't, but she was still scared. Both of them were. "You have thirty seconds, Bolt. Or I'll kill them both."

I began to breathe desperately, looking for an answer for this. My eyes jumped from one of them to the other. Time was still going and I wasn't able to concentrate on anything.

 _Ten. Nine. Eight._

"Let them go; I'll take…"

"Their place? No, puppy, you won't use that move with me." He smiled more and kept going.

 _Three. Two. One…_

I felt I was being nudged and opened my eyes, moderately agitated by the nightmare. It was Peep.

"Hi, there."

"Hi, Peep. What's going on?"

He let out a yawn before answering, "My guard… is finished. Wanted to know… if you would take the next one."

"Oh, sure, buddy."

His typical smile grew a little. "When you're done… wake up Alpha… or Delta."

I nodded and he went to sleep. Then I carefully separated from Mittens and stood up. As I walked to the entrance of the alley I noticed that the only noises were Rhino's snores, along some things he muttered from time to time. I looked at Mittens; she was moving. Probably had felt that I had moved. _I wouldn't be surprised if she woke up,_ I thought as I sat down.

An hour went by. I was tired, but I didn't felt like sleeping. Not if I was going to have that dream again. _I have to stop thinking about this, or it will happen for real, and that would be…_

"Bolt?" Her soft voice reached my ears.

"Hi, Mittens,"

"What are you doing?"

"Peep finished his shift and asked me to go next. I'll go back to sleep in a while," I said, imagining that I had awakened her.

"Can I stay with you?" She asked after a few seconds.

"Sure,"

She sat next to me and laid her head on my side. We were silent for a while. I enjoyed feeling her warm fur, but the nightmare was still roaming in my head.

As if she had read my thoughts, she suddenly separated from me. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes," I said as calmly as I could.

"And why did you stutter?" She insisted while searching my eyes with hers. I looked away, not making eye contact. "What's wrong?"

"I had a dream," I sighed after a few seconds.

"Unpleasant?"

I thought she wouldn't let it go, so I just told her straightly. "Centauri forced me to choose between you and Penny."

Because of the silence that came after that, I figured she was thinking of something reassuring to say, which eventually was spoken as, "That's not going to happen, Bolt. Everything will be fine."

"I know, but my head seems to be the one that won't understand. As much as I try, it seems determined to think the worst cases." I realized I might have been worrying her, so I quickly added, "B-But I'll go away soon, I bet."

She looked at me, and I knew that I hadn't convinced her. While she looked at me, and then at the floor, I was trying to think of something to distract me, failing constantly, until she looked at me again.

"Lie down," She told me with a tone that I didn't quite understand. Without thinking too much about it, I obeyed. I thought she wanted to lie down next to me, but she didn't. "Now roll."

"What?"

"You'll see, just roll," She insisted, without telling me what for.

 _I don't lose anything._

My belly was up and I was lying on my back. I turned to Mittens and saw her smile. She placed one of her paws in my stomach and began to move it quickly back and forth. I felt a jolt of pleasure and began to twitch one of my legs without being able to stop it while she kept rubbing my belly.

I don't know how much time passed (not like I cared), but there was a moment in which I forgot the nightmare. I tried to remember it, not knowing why, but failed. It was gone, like it had been erased. _But what…?_ I didn't even have to ask. Only Soul knew how to do those things. Then I understood what that was all about.

I separated from Mittens' paw and sat down. She looked at me, bewildered. "Something wrong?"

Without saying anything, I kissed and held her. She corresponded the gestures after a few seconds.

"Thanks," I whispered into her ear.

A few minutes after that, Mittens yawned.

"If you want to, go back to sleep. I'll be there soon."

She took about a minute to answer, and did so in a sleepy tone. "No… I'm awake…"

"Really?"

"Mmm-Hmm,"

I looked at Mittens. Her eyes were half closed, so I lay back. Like I imagined she did the same, and rested her head on my shoulder.

Half an hour passed by before I began to feel drowsy. That's when I picked Mittens up, deeply asleep, and took her back to our box to sleep. I lay down next to her again and closed my eyes. I was falling asleep when…

 _Shoot! I didn't wake Delta!_

I opened my eyes, almost panicking, only to get surprised. Delta was already standing guard, in front of the alley, and didn't seem tired at all. I noticed something was wrong, but I was too tired to ask right away. The moment I closed my eyes for a second everything became black.

* * *

When we got to the building it was eleven fifty-five. It surprised me the punctuality we had. As soon as it was noon, we split up and entered the building. Like James had said, there was nobody. We wasted no time and went to the ventilation duct they had mentioned. Delta went in first, followed by Flor; then Mittens, me, with Rhino on my head, and Penny on the rear. It seemed like they had waxed the duct, since my paws would slip constantly. I guess that was the first part of it: to make one or two of us fall down and get hurt. We all slipped at least twice, though nobody got hurt.

We reached the right floor and started to move through its hallways.

"Keep it quiet," Flor whispered, trying to pretend that we didn't know it was a trap, I guess.

We kept walking for quite some time. I was getting a bit bored, so I turned to talk to Penny. However she wasn't there when I turned to look at her.

"Does anyone know where Penny went?" I asked quietly. Everyone stopped and looked at me.

Before receiving an answer I heard Beta's voice in mind.

" _Uh, guys? I think you should know this. The cells are… empty._

The impression was so much that I spoke aloud. "What do you mean?"

" _Just like that. But it's not the weirdest thing. One of them still has the door sealed and pressurized, but no one's inside. Moreover, Kia is here."_

"Kia?!" I asked, even more surprised.

" _Unconscious. On the floor, eyes closed, but breathing."_

"Bring her with you," I told them without hesitation.

"What? Why?" The whole of my group asked.

"Because she's my friend. If she's unconscious and we take her with us today, I could fix things."

"Yes, Bolt. But we are not here for Kia; we're here for the rest of our team," Delta said.

"The rest of the team is gone, Delta! They're not in their cells, and I don't think Centauri would take them for a walk!" I said annoyed as low as I could. No one understood my affairs with Kia, or why I wanted to help her. The one that came closest was Beta, since I was a similar situation to what had happened to Flor, and I hoped that would help her see my point of view.

I received no answer, nor from my group or the stealth one. I said nothing more and kept walking. _If Kia comes with us, we can help her. I can fix my mistake._

As soon as I finished thinking about that all the doors that were close to us opened, letting in about thirty. We were surrounded in a matter of seconds.

"Any idea?" Rhino asked.

"Fight them," Flor answered him.

Easy to say. There were many shadows and I somehow knew they weren't common ones. They weren't strong like the elite ones, but there was something strange about them. I didn't think about it too much and got ready to attack the unfortunates who dared approach Mittens, but I had no chance. A beam of light hit most of the shadows, killing them and making the rest of them flee.

"What…?"

"Calvary to the rescue!" Mega's voice it was, yes. We turned around and found our five lost teammates. Helang had shot the beam. "Why don't we leave hugs for when we're safe?" The wolf inquired before turning around and starting to walk. The others followed, but our group was to surprised to move.

Helang's voice woke us up. "You coming?"

I shook my head and started walking with the rest, before remembering that Penny was lost.

 _Penny!_

" _What's wrong, Bolt? You okay?"_ The fact that she answered made me think she was out of danger, at least for the moment.

 _We've met everyone again. We thought you were caught._ Well, more like 'I thought' but it wasn't important.

" _I'm fine Bolt, just got distracted with something. Where are you?"_

 _We're heading to the exit, following the same rout we took to get up, but using the stairs._

" _I'll see you there,"_

After that I placed my whole attention into running and getting out of there. Two floors lower we ran into the stealth group, that joined us without saying word. I thought they would be a little more emotional, like Peep hugging Jonathan, or Alpha and Beta hugging Mega, but no, everyone was focused on leaving.

We reached the first level without any other shadow in our way. It had been easier than I thought…

"Stop right there!"

As if repeating my nightmare, Centauri was there, and after his scream shadows began to appear from all sides, the walls, the doors, the ground. He began to clap, sarcastically.

"Well done, you really did well. Really, not bad at all. You're almost, semi-decent rivals, and that's a lot, considering that Psyon trained you." Mega and Byte snarled at him. "But, like everything in life, sooner or later it will have to end. And since there's no better time than now, then I'll be the one to end your pathetic and obtuse existence."

I knew what was coming. Rhino and I had seen many times on TV that the villain uses to monologize whenever they were sure they had won. It was a waste of time for him, though I started to think of a plan to get us out of there. There were at least a hundred shadows, and Centauri, whom the pillar was his only opponent. But since we didn't know who the pillar was, I assumed nobody was up to defeat him. My only idea was to face the shadows. After all, Helang had killed like twenty with his light beam. The real problem was him. If we couldn't knock him out, we wouldn't be leaving.

"Unfortunately, it was Psyon who trained you. I would have made you unstoppable; you would have been powerful allies, but that doesn't matter." The guy took one of his hands out of his pockets, showing the dark energy warping it. "I'm not only superior to you, but I have something you'll never have."

"An expensive suit?" Mega guessed.

"No," He didn't even seem to care for the interruption. "What I have is perception, because while you blindly trust your instincts and teach others to do the same, I have learnt to see things at what they are, to see this conflict as what it is: a game."

"What kind of game?" Helang asked. I assumed he was trying to make time, to get Centauri off us.

"Whichever, bird. It's not important, what is important is that you're all here, at my mercy. I'll take care of the girl later. It's important to acknowledge that the end is near and the most important thing, little animals, is that nothing, absolutely nothing, escapes my perception."

And then something hit him on the head and made him fall. It was Penny, holding a wooden plank on one of her hands. She seemed angry or upset about something.

"Nothing, except that," Mega said triumphantly.

The shadows were on us in seconds. The first rammed at me. It looked like a common one, and attacked with no strategy. I bit it on the shoulder. To my surprise, the marking of my teeth began to shine, which scared the shadow away.

I scanned the place. Penny had just thrown three shadows using her hand, which impressed me. Mega and Byte were fighting side by side, without using any special skills, but with the ferocity and synchronicity that I had never seen before. Helang was managing air combat, shooting and clawing any shadow in his way.

"Bolt!"

It was Mittens. Two shadows, apparently hunter shadows, were holding her legs and a third was looking at me, as if challenging me. I didn't think and jumped on it, and that was a problem. The shadow caught me mid-air, hit me on the stomach and threw me away. I stood still until it looked at Mittens again, then I jumped to my paws and hit the floor with one of them. I was barely working on that skill but it was worth a shot. Fortunately it worked, and the ground under the shadow suddenly rose about six feet, throwing it into the air. I then gave a head-butt to one of the other two, throwing it down. When I looked to get rid of the other, Mittens had already handled it.

"Thanks, wags," Sha said, smiling at me.

"It was nothing,"

Before returning to the battle she kissed me, in gratitude I guess. Then she jumped on a shadow with her claws charged. _Poor shadow,_ I thought.

I paid attention to the battle again. Rhino had his part under control. Alpha and Delta fought together, covering each other's backs. Beta had a shadow on the ground and was growling at it. Flor was being cornered by five shadows. I came to her aid, taking advantage of the fact that they were turning their backs on me.

The first, to which I gave a punch, sank on the floor and did not move. The second and third turned around and tried to grab me, and they would have done it if Peep had not jumped on it and bit it on the shoulder. That distracted the other enough for me to get close and hit it in the stomach and then in the back, knocking it to the floor.

"Thanks," I panted once we were done.

He didn't get to answer me. We heard a cry of pain and turned around. The last two shadows were next to Flor: one was rubbing its arm and the other one was doing nothing. Apparently they had tried to attack her and she had scratched the first one on the arm, though the other probably was the one who made the wound. Her leg, it was bleeding, and it seems deep. We both rushed to help, but I perceived Peep differently. His expression showed anger, maybe hatred. I tackled one of the shadows and bit it, and Peep went for the other one, that tried to flee. By the time I was done with my shadow, I heard him scream.

"Don't you ever come near her again!"

I had never seen him like that. Guess it was because of how close he was to Flor. Maybe I would react like that if someone hurt Mittens. After he chased the last shadow, we gathered around Flor. Aside from her scratch we all seemed good. Mega and Byte moved closer to her, apparently to heal the wound, but Helang intervened.

"Better do that in a safe place."

Everyone nodded, so I placed myself in the center of the circle. I didn't know if I had enough energy to take everyone home, but I had to try, more considering that Flor was hurt.

"Grab me," I told them. "Don't let go."

They all grabbed me and I waited for them to be ready.

"Ready? Well, here we go. One. Two. Three!"

I closed my eyes and pictured the barn, hoping it would work. I once had tried to do it like this, trying to get in here to find Kia, without result. But it could've been because Centauri had the building under his total control, because I opened my eyes to the barn.

Wasting no time, Mega placed a paw on Flor's wound, healing it almost totally, leaving only a scab. When it was over I realized how tired I was, like I began to feel the pain in my muscles for the effort and on the few sounds I had. I looked at the others and realized the felt the same. Without saying anything we just leaned on the floor and stayed there. Mittens came to my side and let herself fall on top of me.

"Thanks again, wags," She said with a tone I didn't understand while she rubbed her tail against my side, which made me blush.

"I-It was nothing," I stammered nervously.

She rubbed against my chest for a few seconds and then kissed me. All of it while purring, and then she leaned on my chest and closed her eyes. I did the same; at last we were all together again and that was very, very reassuring. With a calm I hadn't found in weeks, I fell asleep.

* * *

 **Second perspective, check. Two down, we're doing well, right? My special thanks to Basbon, always reviewing, and thanks too to everyone else that reads this. Guess there's nothing more to say right now, nos vemos luego!  
**


	51. (Fb) Stealth

Chapter 51 (Flashback): Stealth

Beta's P.O.V.

After giving everyone boxes to sleep, I fell asleep myself. I don't remember anything but blackness, can't even remember my dream, but I woke up with a slight push.

"Hi, Beta." It was Rhino, I didn't even have to open my eyes to know.

"I guess it's my shift now," I muttered without opening my eyes yet.

"Yes. And, in fact, I think it's the last one. It's about to dawn."

Knowing that, I got up as fast as I could. I have heard that sometimes interrupting the sleep can make it harder to fall back asleep. I had the privilege of being the last to stand guard, so I wasted no time and went to stand by the entrance while Rhino went back to sleep.

My shift had no problem at all. I had the chance to see the sun rise above the buildings and got to think for a while. I realized that there were only two of us in the group involved in love. _Well, not counting the girls dealing with Peep, or dad, checking mom._ That made me think a little more. I had never paid attention to those ambits of life, for the fact that I had had always something on my mind: training, infiltration or anything else. But all of this should end sometime, right? And, when that time comes, I could find someone with who share the rest of my life, like the Master would say, without forcing things.

When it was ten o'clock I heard the first sounds inside the alley. It was Penny, waking up. She waved at me and I answered with a nod. Then she looked into a wall, probably thinking. Half more hour went by before the rest of the group began to wake up, one after another.

One the building, I reviewed what we were supposed to do. The large group would enter down the pipeline that James had recommended. We would wait some minutes and then go inside using another duct that was a little further but would take us almost directly to the cells. Then we would free the guys from the control room while the others activated the trap. Once loose, we could go and help the others and then leave. The only possible major problem was Centauri, but there was no more time to think about it. If anything happened, we would have to improvise.

"We're here."

"Well, I'll tell you how we're doing. If something happens, let us know," I told them before we separated.

After five minutes they entered the building and I lost sight of them. While we waited, I noticed Alpha a little nervous. She was shifting her paws nonstop and looking down too. Peep also noticed, before me I presume. Without saying anything, he approached Alpha and placed one of his paws on hers. She looked up, surprised for a moment. He smiled at her and she smiled back, flushing a little. I didn't want to interrupt them, but it was time.

"Let's go, guys," I told them, bursting the bubble. I started walking and Peep was the first one to follow me, with Alpha catching up moments later.

There was still no sign of life when we entered. We went through a couple of doors moving silently before running into a shadow, though I didn't get the chance to check its rank.

"Hey!" It yowled when it saw us.

Alpha then proved to be maturing. With great skill she ran to the shadow and jumped on it. I couldn't help worry; if she bit the shadow or caused it pain, the screams would attract attention and we would be spoiling the whole plan. However, intelligently, she hit the shadow on the head, knocking it to the ground with a thud. Before it could get up she double checked and hit again, knocking the shadow out.

I walked towards the scene, totally impressed. Peep was the same, none of us blinked until she asked a question:

"How was I?"

"Im... pressing," Peep answered before me. Alpha giggled and smiled warmly at him.

"Not wrong, sis. Admirable actually," I said when I finally was able to talk again. "Now let's keep going."

We got to our duct with no more trouble and we climbed it like that. The pipeline took us exactly to where I planned, next to the control room. Before entering, I signaled them to be ready for anything. I went ahead and pushed the door slightly. I saw no shadows, so I signaled my teammates to come.

Once inside, I jumped to the control panel and found nothing but surprise. From the chair I was on I could see the cell room, and it was everything but what I had expected. Four cells with their doors open, the glass intact. The fifth cell was not open, but its meter had a blinking red signal that said "override". Even more, Kia was inside the room with the cells, near one of them. Unconscious, but there. _What the hell happened here?_

I had nothing more to do there, so I just contacted the other group to know what was next.

"Uh, guys? I think you should know this. The cells are… empty."

" _What do you mean?"_ Bolt asked clearly impressed.

"Just like that. But it's not the weirdest thing. One of the cells still has the door closed and pressurized, but no one's inside. Moreover, Kia is here."

" _Kia?!"_ Bolt insisted.

 _Yes, Bolt, Kia. Can you put her aside and concentrate on this, please?_ I thought, trying to keep it in my head this time. "Unconscious. On the floor, eyes closed, but breathing."

" _Bring her with you."_

 _Damnit, Bolt! I need you to concentrate! I know it's important for you, but come on…_

I waited for any other response, but it never came.

"Let's go for the vixen," Alpha sighed finally.

I had no plan of objecting, but the voice of who we were supposed to be rescuing sounded in my head. _"Get out of there, guys."_

"Dad?"

" _Hurry up. I need you to go down to level four and find… something important. I'll explain on the way."_

We obeyed and went on our way at full speed. We arrived at level four and entered a small room, following dad's indications.

" _Now, pay attention. You're in an explosives warehouse."_

"What?!" The three of us asked startled.

" _Shht! Quiet! I need you to grab as many as you can and distribute them along the whole level. We already placed some on the upper levels."_

"Are we blowing this place?" Alpha asked.

" _In a million pieces,"_ Dad answered while chuckling.

"What about… the others?" Peep asked.

" _Umbra and Bolt's friends are notified of it. They're the ones who will light it. The rest of us will be far away when it happens._

At that moment I remembered Bolt's requested. He had talked to me about it lately. After all, it was a similar situation to the one I lived with Flor, so I pretty much understood how he felt regarding this. Even once I saw him try and teleport into the building, in an attempt of getting that she-fox out of here, with no result. He was determined to help her, and this could be his last chance.

"Kia!"

"There's no time, Beta. Dad says we have to move now."

I was going to object but I sensed Alpha was right. If we lost more time the plan would fail. Resignedly I took the explosives I could and wan away in a direction, letting go one at a time while Alpha and Peep took two other directions, covering the whole floor like that. We finished and met at the stairs, where we met the rest after a minute or two. Everyone but Penny. I looked at Bolt, hoping for an answer and he smiled slightly, letting me know that it was alright.

We lost no time and ran back to the ground floor. We were arriving at the exit when I heard the voice responsible for all this suffering.

"Stop right there!"

As it sounded, a hundred of shadows appeared through the doors, though some of them were crawlers too. Centauri then began to clap.

"Well done, you really did well. Really, not bad at all. You're almost, semi-decent rivals, and that's a lot, considering that Psyon trained you." Mega and Byte snarled at him. "But, like everything in life, sooner or later it will have to end. And since there's no better time than now, then I'll be the one to end your pathetic and obtuse existence."

I analyzed the situation. A hundred an twelve shadows, us being only thirteen –fourteen with Penny, but she was not in the room. Centauri was the priority, we all knew it. We would not leave the building as long as he were standing. The main objective was to have him on the floor. _But how? How, if he beat all five of them without sweating it? How could we…?_ I sensed a negative presence approaching from behind Centauri, and I imagined it was the Pitbull. I got surprised, and even found it funny, when Pennt suddenly hit him on the neck just after he said nothing could escape his perception.

"Nothing, except that," Dad said with triumph and I felt as great relief.

The relief vanished when the shadows jumped on us. Yes, Centauri was no longer a problem, but we had to get rid of the shadows to leave. Two medium approached to me, watching me carefully. I noticed their nervousness, perhaps they knew my reputation. After a little while, one of them threw itself at me, giving me the chance to punch it on the stomach. The other one simply left, it fled as soon as it saw it happen. _Coward._

Alpha and Delta were making an attempt to fight in sync, but they weren't doing very well. I went in their help, head-butted the shadow that was holding them, and then spoke.

"Pay attention to their movements and cover your backs. You're stronger than you want to believe."

I didn't wait for an answer and kept moving. Alpha wants to mature, she wants to be 'The Alpha' among us, and she is getting closer to it, but still has work to do. She has matured a lot, and she makes better planning, but there's more to learn.

I looked at Kass battling with two shadows at once, both of them large. Despite this, the cat was very skilled in combat and wouldn't let them touch him. After little more both of them had to run away, covered in claw marks.

For being distracted a shadow grabbed me by the neck. Probably an elite one. I started kicking, trying to free myself. The shadow lifted its other hand and opened it, ready to strike with dark energy. I didn't close my eyes, and thus, saw a luminous sphere hit the shadow's arm, paralyzing it. Without having time to react, another one, bluish this time, landed on its chest. The shadow shot out and released me in the act. It had been Rhino, to whom I gave a grateful nod before seeing that his guard was down and a shadow was creeping on him from behind.

As fast as I could I ran towards him, who looked at me in confusion. As soon as I reached the appropriate distance I jumped on it, knocking it to the floor. The shadow looked terrified, so I growled menacingly at it for some seconds and then let it go.

I looked around and saw that we had practically won, but there were still some standing. Two were surrounding Flor. She bit one on the arm when it tried to grab her, making it recoil as it growled. Regrettably, she left her back uncovered, which the other shadow used to approach and give her a deep scratch on her front leg. The cry of pain was very sharp, so much that Penny probably didn't hear it, though the rest of us all did.

I saw how Bolt and Peep went to help her. The first one lunged against the wounded shadow and finished Flor's work. But Peep… oh, Peep looked furious. He began to chase the other shadow, which tried to flee over Penny, Peep, too, jumped over the girl and then it rammed at the shadow and bit so hard it could've broken something. The shadow broke free of his grip and fled.

"Don't you ever come near her again!" He shouted angrily.

After that, we all approached Flor. She was awake, but still bleeding while she moaned in pain. Dad and aunt Byte came a little, probably to heal her, but uncle Helang stopped them.

"Better do that in a safe place." He said looking at Flor, who nodded. Bolt then got in the middle of us.

"Grab me," He instructed. "Don't let go."

Once we grabbed him, he counted to three and did it. I wasn't sure he would make it, but apparently he had the strength because I felt dizzy and a headache quite strong that vanished as quickly as it appeared, at the time the building disappeared and the barn appeared around us.

Dad went straight to heal Flor's wound and then we saw each other, all exhausted. So we just lay there, keeping space between us. Before falling asleep, I looked around. Dad and Aunt Byte reclined side by side. Penny simply dropped to the ground full of straw and stayed there. Flor, with her wound already treated, had reclined next to Pepe, just like Alfa. Rhino was in his sphere, snoring peacefully. Uncle Helang was curled up on a beam and Delta… he had something, I could perceive it; I would have to talk to him later. Finally, Mittens was flirting with Bolt and making him blush; He looked funny, it was as if his fur were pink, and judging by how he reacted, I deduced that he still did not know much about it.

I laughed a little to myself before reality hit me. I had failed Bolt. I left Kia on the sixth level, and then we put explosives in the fourth, which Umbra James and Bud planned to activate who knows when; they could be about to activate them while I was thinking. That, plus the ones Dad had mentioned that they had placed on higher levels. I opened my eyes and looked at Bolt, expecting the worst, but he looked calm, with his head resting on Mittens'. Perhaps for all the action he had forgotten about it, but I could not help feel bad; maybe there would be another opportunity. _Or maybe she dies today._ I thought terrified. _I have to tell him I messed up, this day isn't over until I tell him that._ With that "fixed", I finished getting comfortable and closed my eyes to rest for a while.

* * *

 **And that was that; one more perspective and we go back to the present, guys. Well, as usual, my special thanks to Basbon and ShadowScare for their reviews, but this time to TheMattdude, too. Thanks for reviewing, bro, I loved to know that you're liking it so far, and I hope you'll like the rest of it. And I do have considered writting a book, you know, sometime. Anyway, that's all I have to say right now, nos vemos luego!  
**


	52. (Fb) Escape

Chapter 52: (Flashback) Escape

Helang's P.O.V.

I didn't know the time, but dinner, if you can call that a piece and a half of bread, had been given to us already, so pretty sure it was late. Knowing that Umbra had our backs and that Byte was going to entertain Kia, we had pretty much the escape ready. But we still needed energy, and not only to move but to shoot and everything else too. I had been thinking about that for a while; we would have to use it moderately, since Centauri has the building sealed to his command, but most importantly, we needed a place to get the energy to start with. After a while I finally found a way.

Without saying anything I lay down on the floor and began to meditate. As I expected, only seconds were enough for the shadows to realize.

" _Hey! Stop that, feather-ball!"_ A shadow shouted through the microphone. _"I'm warning you, we're authorized to use any method to stop you!"_

 _That's what I want silly. If my calculations are correct…_

My cell began to shake, slightly at first, but it kept increasing until it seemed like the cell had epilepsy. And yet, I wasn't moving, kept meditating for a few minutes, feeling the pleasure of perceiving my environment again, until the shadow lost its patience, if it had any.

" _Very well, you asked for it!"_

 _Precisely._

As I imagined, I received a fairly strong electric shock. When it was over, I threw myself to the floor.

" _That's imposible,"_ I heard Mega thinking, _"He's immune to those things!"_

Before my dear, imprudent, younger brother did some madness, I opened my eye, looked at him, winked and the closed it again. Then the cell gave me another electric shock. And another, and another; several actually, and with enough strength to kill a person. When we had eight down, another shadow began to speak with the first one. Apparently they hadn't turned the microphone off.

" _I think that's enough,"_

" _But I need him to wake up; the boss said they shouldn't sleep…"_

" _I don't think the boss thought they would be foolish enough to try and meditate for real. He'll wake up later."_

There was no more dialogue. Either no more was said, or they had turned the microphone off. _It doesn't really matter, I've got my exit from here. Thank you, shadows._ I thought before actually falling asleep for a while. In dreams, Master asked me for a favor and gave me a little information for later.

I woke up to another shock. Apparently I had slept several hours. The difference was that this shadow said nothing after the shock.

"What happened?" I asked the guys.

"Nothing interesting," Kass answered. "I think it is dawn already; they should be bringing over breakfast soon. That's probably why they woke you."

" _Okay, what's your plan?"_

 _We know the guys are coming today, and today Kia is going to chat with Byte. I'm going to take advantage of that and show you the second part of the omicron project at the same time._

" _But Umbra told us yesterday that he wouldn't be able to help us; they sent him on an assignment."_

That was a change of plans, but I already had my backup ready, so it didn't actually matter. _Trust me, Mega, this ability is quite useful and it can get us out of here even without Umbra's help._

I looked into his eyes and he smiled at me. His energy field looked much cleaner than before. Byte's too, and their brotherhood bond was already forming. They just had to strength it enough.

Breakfast (more bread) arrived and after it we were left alone again, the room quiet as ever. I remembered the request Master had for me, so I opened my communication to Penny.

 _Hi, Penny, I need to ask you a favor. I know you're about to come get us, and that you're part of the distraction team. How or why doesn't matter now. I need you to sneak into the research lab of the building while your team makes its part. Find the master's staff and touch every one of its crystals for a couple of seconds. That's all; thanks._

I cut communication before giving her chance to ask. I probably had confused the kid, but I didn't know if they could track those messages when I was inside the cell.

We waited for another hour before Kia entered the room, actually surprising me.

"Wasn't it a noon?" Mega asked.

That vixen had changed a lot, she was totally different from how Bud and James had described her to us. Her fur was darkening, her teeth yellowing and her gaze was growing darker too.

"I'm Centauri's right hand. I gave the shadows a little extra of break time, so that you can tell me everything," She answered without even looking at him.

"Okay, then," Byte said. "Let's get started."

Kia nodded and left the room. A minute or two went by before Byte's cell made a sound and opened the glass slightly, just enough for her paw to pass through to it. Then the vixen came in again.

"Now show me."

Byte leaned close to the glass and poked her leg through the opening. Kia approached and looked at her paw for a few seconds. When she finally decided to do it and was reaching for Byte's paw, she told her, "Remember, I'm only offering the truth"

Kia held still for a little, as if doubting she wanted to know the truth. It took her a few more minutes, in which no one interrupted her, before she raised her paw and touched Byte's. They held each other and Byte smiled.

"What should I show you?"

"Show me my Bolt," She demanded.

"Okay. The first time I saw him was… when…" She began to remember, she had to if she were to show it to Kia. "There! When Master sent us to take care of the potential pillar." Byte then closed her eyes and raised her head.

Energetically, I could see the memories being transmitted. I saw them 'spying' on the worst possible way and with no discretion. I saw her get a call from Mega in the middle of her training to return to camp, and how she reacted when she saw Bolt injured. I noticed Kia getting angry when she found out that the Pitbull had hurt Bolt. I kept watching until we reached the part where I came back from my journey. Then I concentrated again.

I had to review what I had done with the Master before. I closed my eyes, breathed deeply and began to move smoothly and fluidly, marking the four elements in the cage with my claws. Once I was done, I began to remember all the energy I had in me and concentrated. A lot. I stretched my wings, opened my eyes and saw it was working. The lower part of my body was 'dematerializing', becoming energy.

The four of them looked at me impressed, though Byte only did for a seconds before returning her attention to her thing. That skill was explained to me by Master as part of a physics law or something. Energy, like matter, is only transformed, not created nor destroyed. Considering that everything is either energy or matter, everything is transformable, including a solid body. I felt my stomach hurt, but I didn't stop, it was probably dematerializing too. In a matter of seconds I stopped being a physical body and became an energy one.

So, being energy, I could move as such, but I had to hurry. Without wasting any time I entered the wires they had used to electrocute me. I could not see, hear, smell or anything, since I had no organs, but I felt just great. I had never achieved it completely, but Master had said I would when the time came. And he had been right.

I used the wiring to get to the control room. It took me merely seconds to get there. Once in the room I went out through an electric outlet and materialized again. Though I felt pain in every part that became physical again, there was still energy in me from the previous night. I looked at the control panel and chuckled. The indicator in my cell was blinking in red letter that said "override". Then I focused; Kia was sad, almost in the verge of tears, as Byte kept showing her the memories she had of Bolt. Then I opened Mega's cell completely, which made some noise while doing so, but Kia was too busy to perceive.

"It's not true," She was repeating with a broken voice. "It can't be possible."

I saw Mega approaching from behind her. "I'm sorry, Kia, but we're leaving."

Then he hit her on the head, and knocked her unconscious.

I felt like goofing a little, so I took the microphone and turned it on.

"Lady and gentlemen, welcome to flight 1234 direct and non-stop with destination home. Please, notice that the 'no smoking' and 'buckle up' signs are on. We remind you that your cell phones must be turned off during the flight. Please keep arms, legs and tails inside the vehicle at all times; sit correctly and enjoy the flight."

" _Stop playing, Helang!"_

"Mega, get in your cell."

As he usually does, he obeyed without complaining. When he was inside I closed his cell and Byte's too.

" _Hey, what are you doing, Helang?"_

"Now I'll conquer the world!" And I laughed.

" _Are you okay?"_

I chuckled. "Just kidding. Give me a moment."

I searched for the correct button and then sent an electric charge to the wolves' cells, before opening them. "You're welcome. John, Kass, you want some?"

" _Please,"_ Said the cat.

" _Make it double and with a cherry on top,"_ Added the dog.

"Energy portion, double and with a cherry on top, gluten-free on its way!" I pressed the buttons again and gave them the charge. Now we all had energy to use. "See you outside," I told them when I was done.

I met them at the door of the cell room. It was quite early, ten before twelve, so by premonition we moved to the tenth level, where we found explosives.

"I have an idea," Mega declared.

"As dangerous and childish it is, I agree with you," I answered.

"Did you read my mind?" He asked, touching his head with a paw.

"No, but it's pretty obvious."

"Are you saying I am predictable?"

"As predictable as an artichoke."

"I don't believe you," I sighed as he kept going. "Okay, in which number I'm…?"

"Twelve."

"What? How did you…?"

"Always, Mega. Every single time, since the Master taught us that thing, you think of number twelve. Can we now keep on with what's important?"

He said nothing and just nodded, with his smile still on.

We took some explosives and distributed them along the upper floors. I took ten, John nine, Kass eight, Byte seven and Mega six. There weren't so many, so we distributed them strategically as well. It was brutal, drastic and many would die for this, but… a premonition… it kept telling me to do it. I guess… it had to be this way?

I did my part quickly and quietly. Apparently all of the shadows were ready for the trap, 'cause I encountered none. I sensed Mega and Byte using hyperspeed to cover their levels faster; that would stop them from using combat abilities. I didn't think about it too much and kept going.

I met with the others at floor number seven, where we made contact with Umbra and Bolt's friends.

"No time for greetings," I said in a hushed tone. "We're going to blow this into pieces. We have placed explosives in all the upper levels, so you'll be safe in the lower ones. Obviously, we're about to be on the run, as soon as we can, so it will be up to you to detonate them."

Umbra's expression was a neutral as ever, but the two young shadows seemed happy and excited.

"Bud, we're double agents!"

"Remember to be careful," Byte warned. "Don't expose yourselves."

"Yes ma'am!" They both said at once, raising a hand and making a military gesture. Byte nodded and the shadows lowered their hands.

"We have to go now. No more time."

"You're right, cat. Let's get moving." Then I gave the detonator I had found to Umbra while the other two saw it totally excited.

"Do you think it's going to work?" Mega asked as we walked to the stairs.

"I don't think so. I know it. It'll be alright."

"Even if it's not," Kass put in.

"Right."

We reached level six. As soon as we did Umbra appeared from the stairs and began to growl. He didn't stop once and as soon as he finished he left again.

"What was that?" Jonathan asked.

Kass sighed. "He said that we should blow up level four, too. A lot of supplies and valuables. They would lose a lot if that level ceased to exist."

While the cat was talking, I sensed both rescue groups. One was going straight into a trap, a trap with toxic shadows. Not too strong in combat, but if they touched them… they could die within minutes.

"There's no time," Byte said. "Bolt's group…"

"I sense it, too."

"Me too. If we go down to the explosives, they'll be on their own. But it's aa unique opportunity…"

"The other group can do it," Mega suggested. "They have nothing else to do."

I nodded. "Guide them,"

"Umbra said there are more explosives on that level. Corridor on the right, sixth door. There's a wooden plank that marks it."

"Got it," Mega then established communication with the rescue group.

"Okay, so we get moving to help the other group. If they touch a toxic shadow…"

"We know."

I shook my head and we all started walking down the corridor of the sixth level. I could sense perfectly that Penny had gone to do her part and that the group was just about to detonate that trap. We accelerated the pace to arrive just in time. There were about thirty shadows, all toxic. I saw Bolt preparing to ram one, Flor showing her fangs, Delta the same and Mittens seemed to be charging her claws. The only one who would have made it was Rhino, who was still inside his ball.

Before anyone gave the first movement, I aimed at the shadows and fired a beam of light. That got rid of several shadows and scared away the others, who would probably give the alarm.

"Calvary to the rescue!" Mega yowled. He was probably done talking with the other group. "Why don't we leave hugs for when we're safe?"

We turned to leave, but the rescue group was too shocked. We would have time to explain later, but now we had to leave. "You coming?" I asked them.

We went down two levels before meeting the rest of the group, now Penny was only missing, but Bolt already had that issue under control. That, or he had forgotten his person, and it didn't seem possible. We reached the first level and started to move towards the exit, only to be stopped by Centauri , and his shadows, who began to monologue, giving me time to study the situation.

"What I have is perception, because while you blindly trust your instincts and teach others to do the same, I have learnt to see things at what they are, to see this conflict as what it is: a game."

"What kind of game?" I asked, trying to make time.

"Whichever, bird. It's not important, what is important is that you're all here, at my mercy. I'll take care of the girl later. It's important to acknowledge that the end is near and the most important thing, little animals, is that nothing, absolutely nothing, escapes my perception."

And then something hit him on the head and made him fall. It was Penny, and she looked furious.

"Nothing, except that," Mega said triumphantly. Then the shadows attacked.

I took flight without hesitation and plunged into two shadows that were together, claws in front. I grabbed each of one shoulder and then threw them up abruptly. I repeated the process until I saw Peep being cornered by three hunting shadows. Then I flew in his direction and shot light, which erased the three shadows.

"You can do it," I told him as I passed him by.

I studied the situation. They were too many shadows; some would have to die if we wanted to get out of there. I started flying around the place shooting light to erase as many shadows as I could. Then I noticed Penny doing the push to get rid of the shadows and I followed her. Shadow that she pushed, shadow that I went to finish. In a short time the amount of shadows was reduced to almost zero.

"Don't you ever come near her again!" Someone yelled angrily.

It was Peep, and Flor was wounded behind him. That explained enough to me. I landed near her and everyone started arriving. Mega and Byte approached with intentions to heal her, but it was not the place.

"Better do that in a safe place." said looking at Flor. As she nodded, the others did too.

"Grab me," Bolt said putting himself in the middle of everyone. "Don't let go." One after another, we all held Bolt. "Ready?" He asked. While everyone confirmed, I gave him enough energy to take us back. "Well, there we go. One Two Three!"

The teleporting went perfectly. In minutes, Flor's wound was only a crust and we were all scattered on the floor of the barn, and I on a beam, ready to rest. Before falling asleep, I felt an unpleasant sensation in the pit of my stomach. _The final battle is coming closer,_ I concluded. _Only the pillar can win this fight._

* * *

 **And that is it! Guys, I'm very happy: in spite of being a little sick, I'm very excited because this week I got four reviews! And I hadn't reached that little number in quite a lot! (Of course, writting in a more active section would help, but I like what I'm doing here) Now, like I promised, this was the last perspective, and we go back to the present next week. Special thanks to all of you guys, Basbon, ShadowScare, TheMattdude and demoforce, for reviewing last week. I guess that's all I have to say right now, so nos vemos luego!**


	53. Tying loose ends

Chapter 53: Tying loose ends

"So," Penny said after having heard the various versions of the story. "I think you still owe us an explanation, Soul."

"Okay, you're right. You see, Centauri has developed many skills that aren't easy to obtain. That much time alleged to the darkness has made him almost one with it and that's why it will be extremely difficult to face him."

"But then, how come I could just hit him from behind without him noticing?"

 _"Well, first of all, I'm sorry. Here it goes: Centauri has resigned to using his five basic senses. He rather uses something called 'energetic perception' to know what happens around him. Everything is energy, of one kind or another, but energy nonetheless. Everything emanates energy, in different frequencies. Centauri can know something is blue without opening his eyes because he would sense the 'blue' frequency coming out of the object, that would be different given any other color. This is very similar to premonition, and the basic difference is that this one relies only on energy. Centauri can perceive all of your energies, he can track them and know where you are without sensors or surveillance. This is what happened: Penny sneaked up on him and knocked him down, but before that happened, I made her angry, I mocked her and made her mad at me; therefore, when she arrived at the place, he energy was in a negative state. Centauri perceived that, but he didn't think so much anger could come from someone in our group, and didn't pay attention, assuming it was just another shadow coming to the place. That's why you were able to do it…"_

"You used me," The girl interrupted, visibly upset.

There were a few seconds of silence. Most of them would have thought that he was looking for an excuse or something, but Soul's answer was, _"Yes, I used you. I'm sorry."_

"How dare you, Soul?!" If she wasn't angry with him before, she was now. "What the hell is wrong with you!?"

Nobody answered. Penny finally got up and left the barn, mumbling things under her breath. The tension left with her, and the animals got into talking.

"So, you blew up the building?" Bolt asked.

"Well, not us, but probably by now they already detonated those explosives," Helang answered.

The shepherd nodded, and everything went silent for a few seconds just before he opened his eyes in total worry. "Kia!"

Bolt began to look everywhere frenetically, looking for his friend, until someone cleared her throat to speak to him.

"I'm sorry, Bolt," It was Beta. "I… we were going for her, but… there was no time, and…"

Bolt looked at her, unable to hide his disappointment, nor his sadness. "It's okay…" He said lowering his head. "There… will be another chance."

He didn't wait for an answer and left the barn too, his tail and ears hanging. The silence he left behind was sad as well, too much, considering they had had a victory just that same day.

"Fine," Mega said, trying to clear the air. "Now, _you_ owe us an explanation too," He said to Helang, pointing to him with a paw. "How did you become a… a… that?"

"Okay," The hawk answered from the beam. "What you saw was the second part of the Omicron project. The ability to dematerialize a body completely, turn it into energy and then move as such."

"But why was the Master trying to put something like that into practice?" Byte asked.

"Well, it's phase two out of three. The first one consists on the bond that I told you, so narrow and so strong that it allows both minds to connect any time…"

"You already told us that," Mega intervened.

"I know, genius, I'm saying it for them," The falcon pointed to the part of the group that hadn't been on the cells.

"Fine, now they know it."

"Finally," Helang continued, with a warning look at Mega. "The third part is crazy, even for us. The idea was that, once I had perfectioned dematerializing, the Master and I… would make a fusion to each other."

The burst of noise in the barn that came after that sentence would have woken someone sleeping in the Arctic. It took several minutes, in which the hawk did nothing, for the group to come to silence again.

"Why a fusion? With what purpose?" Alpha asked before anyone else.

"The idea was that I would dematerialize my body and then enter the Master's. We had speculated that such action would cause a fusion in our mental, physical, extraordinary abilities and so with everything else. That means that whichever creature had come out of that would have had my strength plus the Master's, my speed plus his and so on."

"But why would Master try something like that?" Byte asked.

"For combat. For when things get ugly. _That_ would have achieved things we could not, because it would sum up our abilities totally; maybe it could even had given us a door for new abilities, unknown abilities. We also speculated that his body would have a physical change of appearance, which would be reversed whenever I left his body."

"Question," Mega said. "Was Master high when he thought of that idea?"

"Mega!"

"You have to admit it though, Helang, that sounds crazy even for us and you said it. I don't think anything like that is possible," Jonathan put in.

"I'm not arguing about it. You asked me to tell you about the project, and I did. I never went past phase two, so we never actually tried phase three; the 'possible or impossible' discussion is irrelevant, moreover since the Master doesn't have a physical body anymore. This is just theory."

"And why don't you test it with someone else, uncle Helang?" Delta asked.

"Because it's too dangerous; that's the same reason why this part only involved me. It is unnatural and done almost by force, opposing nature which is not the best idea. Plus, at the time Master had almost no information about it, and now he's told me that in the archives there are very few cases registered for this kind of thing. There are a million things that could go wrong if it's not done perfectly." Delta nodded in understanding to the explanation.

While the group was talking, Bolt had gone into the house, where the first thing he found was Penny talking to her mother.

"But why, mom?"

"Because it's dangerous."

"I know that, but they need me."

"No," Mrs. Forrester said firmly. "Take today, for example. You could have died!"

"I know, but I'm part of this team, and…"

"'And' nothing, young lady. I forbid you to go save the world."

Penny stared at her mother until she realized how selfish that had sounded. But before she could say anything else a third voice made presence.

"Hello, Mrs. Forrester, my name is Soul… Penny's mentor."

The lady freaked a little to the voice, there was no denying it, but less than the first time. Penny crossed her arms and looked somewhere else, while her mother got into talking with the dead guy.

"Hello… Soul."

" _I'll go straight to the point. I know you only want to protect Penny, but she is a key part of this team. Without her none of the others would have left the enemy base today."_

"But…"

" _I know. I cannot guarantee her well-being, but I can promise that I'll care for her with everything within my reach. Trust me; she is also important, very important, to me. To all of us."_

Penny then began to pay attention to the conversation, surprised by what Soul had said.

"But… something could go wrong."

" _Always; but we don't react by shutting ourselves in a bubble. She has achieved a lot, and is extremely capable and skillful. She knows how to take care of herself and the others. She's a natural leader."_

Mrs. Forrester got to thinking for some minutes.

"Fine, show me that you can protect her, and I'll let her keep going."

" _But of course. Lioness, could you please go outside for a moment? You too, ma'am."_

Both did as they were told. Once outside Penny's mother spoke again. "And now what?"

" _I'll cover her in air. Sorry, lioness, but it's the only way I know,"_ Soul said to Penny.

Not giving them the chance to ask, a strong air current became present out of nowhere. Then it began molding itself around the girl, who froze in her place from the impression.

" _Now, try,"_ Soul instructed.

The lady walked to the small cyclone and looked at her daughter.

"Can you hear me?" She asked. Penny nodded. "Oaky, can you breathe?"

"Yes, mom," Penny answered from inside the air circle, however her voice wasn't muffled at all.

" _Try and touch her,"_

She did, but couldn't. When her hand reached the air flow, it couldn't go any further. It was like a solid wall, it didn't move an inch from its place, even though Mrs. Forrester eventually tried to push it with all her strength. After getting tired, she stopped trying and the cyclone disappeared.

" _I rest my case, ma'am."_

There was a rather long silence, in which the girl and the Soul were expectant to hear the final decision.

"Fine," The mother said finally. "You can go."

Then she returned to the house.

" _Well, we made it,"_

Penny smiled, apparently to no one, but then she remembered she was meant to be upset, so she turned around, frowned and crossed her arms. "Don't talk to me, Soul."

" _Oh, come on. I already explained it to you; if I had told you back then, it wouldn't have been effective."_

"But it was not okay, you get that, right? You shouldn't use people like that, Soul."

" _I know, trust me. Sorry. I'm sorry I used you, I'm sorry I played jokes on you. Sorry."_

"Are you really sorry?"

" _Of course I am! The joke was that, a joke. I meant to make you laugh, not mad. And I won't use you again, I promise."_

The girl thought on it for a few seconds and then sighed. "Okay. I forgive you," She smiled. "Now what?"

" _Resting, I would suggest."_

Penny looked confused, but then she looked up and saw millions of shining stars over her head. "Wow. Time really flies sometimes."

" _Yes, it does, lioness. Go on, I'll disassemble the team."_

"Thanks, Soul," She said before heading inside.

Meanwhile, Bolt was still inside, lying on the couch and with no desire to do anything at all. He had seen both women leave the house, and now he had seen Penny come in again, but he hadn't moved at all. A minute later he also heard the pet door, but he had already closed his eyes and didn't care.

"Wags?" A sweet voice asked softly.

"Yes, Mittens?" He said without opening his eyes. As much as she loved him, she still didn't fully understand his determination to save Kia.

"Beta says she wants to talk to you," The dog opened his eyes when he heard the vixen's name and looked at his mate. "Are you okay?"

He sighed. "It's Kia…"

Mittens hugged him without saying anything. He let her do her thing, enjoying the warmth of her fur, and returned the gesture. They spent a minute like that.

"Thanks, Mittens. Let me see what Beta wants to talk about." She smiled at him and let the shepherd go out.

Outside, Bolt noticed everyone going home, with one exception. Under the tree there was a silhouette, totally static. Bolt deduced who it was and walked towards it without hurry.

"Hi, Bolt," The female said with a sad tone.

"Hi, Beta," The dog sat in front of her. "What happened?"

"About what?"

"What did you wanted to talk with me about?"

"Oh…" She went silent and lowered her head. "I'm sorry, Bolt, I'm so sorry. You asked me for help and I wasn't able to fulfill the one favor you asked me for."

"It's okay," He tried to assure her, hiding his own sadness. "We can…"

"I failed you, Bolt. I had never failed before; always fulfilled in time and form with everything they asked, my father or Centauri. I never failed a single assignment; but when it's the most important of them all, I fail." Beta began to sob slightly, worrying Bolt.

"Beta…"

"I failed you. I couldn't do the simple thing of bringing with me someone who was unconscious…"

"Beta."

"And smaller than me. I could have carried her on back and she would be here now. But I didn't and she could be dead…"

"Beta!" The dog yowled, drawing her attention finally. "It's fine, alright? It was not in your paws this time. You wanted to, but the situation didn't let you. What does Soul say about the circumstances?"

"They take us down the right path," She muttered in between sobs.

"Right. Okay, you failed once, but it doesn't matter. It's not like we are keeping track of when you fail to judge you. Failure is something that will happen to anyone brave enough to try, sooner or later. It doesn't matter now, we'll get another chance," He finished with a comforting tone.

Beta didn't answer for a few minutes. Then she looked up and saw him in the eye, she had a tear dripping down her cheek.

"Come here," Bolt said to her.

Beta didn't doubt it and let him hold her. She placed her head on Bolt's chest and felt something warm and fuzzy, that she had never felt before.

 _Is this how Mittens feels when Bolt holds her? Because it's… very nice. It's perfect. If I ever search for love, I have to make sure that his hugs feel like this ones. So warm… and comforting…_ She was getting lost on the gesture when she perceived Mittens' scent on the dog's white chest. _Right. This one's taken. Okay, now let him go; you're friends and you can hug him, but that's it._

"Thanks, Bolt," She said as she parted from the embrace.

"You're welcome," She replied with a smile.

Beta said goodbye to him and ran off to the forest. The dog returned inside and had dinner, alone, since his food was the only left. The others were probably upstairs already. And yes, they were. Mittens was waiting for him, Rhino and Penny were on the verge of falling asleep.

"How was it, wags?" She asked.

"She was feeling bad for not bringing Kia," He told her briefly.

"Like you?"

"Similar. She said some things… she really had never failed before, or so she said." Then he smiled. "The good thing is that by helping her I ended up helping myself. I realized that in the end we will get to right place and with the right people."

The she-cat smiled at this. "I'm glad to hear so."

Bolt leaned back and warped his paws around Mittens. She placed her head on his chest and purred while she fell asleep. The dog, too, feel asleep calmly and with a smile.

* * *

In what were the ruins of a building, which was patched with wooden planks and nails, reaching a height of four floors, Centauri was giving orders to its most prominent shadows.

"I want total withdrawal. All the shadows back to the base in two days maximum. And I need you to fix the field for the confrontation. Gather as much energy as you can. Heal the wounded shadows and finish fixing this disaster." As soon as he finished speaking, he waved his hand, sending the shadows to work. One approached him before leaving.

"Sir?"

"Now what do you want? You are already a hunting shadow and your partner lost his power, what else do you want?"

"I want to know," The specter said.

"I would normally kick you away with your questions, but I'm feeling nice. You have five minutes."

"Why total withdrawal? Why do we prepare the field and why are we not going to generate more negative energy?"

"Because I say so," But the shadow did not leave, its gaze said that it wouldn't until it received an answer. "You have guts. Well, I need all the shadows here to prepare the field. Why? Because there is going to be the final confrontation."

"We're not going to attack them?"

"No. If they come, we are in advantage. Defense ties, defense wins; In addition, we can 'fix' the field where the confrontation will take place so that we can do better. Regarding the dark energy, there is no need to worry, I already asked a distant friend to send a considerable cargo. There will be enough."

"You're giving them time to get ready."

"Same to us. Now, get out of here. Go and do something useful ." He said as he moved his hand as if shooing a fly.

"Ben, I want you to bring me both animals," Centauri said to the air when he was alone. "That's the last loose end to tie."

Meanwhile, the shadow reached the second floor and entered an almost entire room, where his students received him.

"How was it, sir?"

"What's going on?"

"What did you find out?"

The shadow asked for space with its hands. "Now I'll tell you; we're going to have to do some things around here. The final confrontation is coming closer."

* * *

 **First of all: Sorry! I totally forgot to update yesterday. Had some cousins come over for Christmas, spent the day with them, cool and everything; then I wake up today like "Huh, no reviews on the latest chap... OH DAMNIT!" So yeah, I'm sorry, guys. Special thanks to Basbon, ShadowScare, TheMattdude and vburro08 for reviewing last chapter; I reakky appreciate it, guys. Guess that's all I have to say right now, nos vemos luego! Y Feliz Navidad!  
**


	54. Free day

Chapter 54: Free day

It dawned peacefully. One by one, they all began to wake up in their respective homes. At Penny's house, Rhino was the first one to open his eyes, receiving a big surprise when he did.

"Bolt, wake up!" The little guy screamed in excitement, making the dog jump to his paws and, consequently, the cat lying next to him. "It's snowing, it's snowing!" H kept going, ignoring the furtive gaze he received from the feline. "Come on, we have a lot to do today!" He added as he left Penny's room in a rush.

The other two animals took a few seconds to process the hamster's words.

"Snowing?" Bolt asked finally.

"Don't you tell me you don't know what snow is, wags," Mittens told him somewhat surprised.

"No, of course I do. We saw some on our journey back here, remember? But we didn't stop to play or anything at that time," The dog commented.

"Well, then let's fix that," Mittens smiled at him.

They both went down for breakfast, taking their time and finding that Rhino had already finished his and was outside. They reached him some minutes later, and saw almost everyone else there. The snow was about five inches thick.

Jonathan was almost completely buried in the white powder. Around his head there was a big lump, which was nothing more than his body buried. Peep and Flor were playing, scampering each other and throwing snow every once in a while. Kass was hunting flakes, trying to claw them before they hit the ground. Rhino was out of his ball, lying on the ground and making a snow-hamster while laughing. The others were not in sight, but not far away, Bolt sensed.

The dog poked his head from under the roof as he watched the show. Hundreds of little, white flakes were falling softly into the ground, piling up and covering it with a white layer. Seconds after peeking out, he felt something tickle his nose. A snowflake had fallen on it. Bolt watched it a few seconds before removing it with a paw.

"How is it?" Mittens asked, still at his side.

"It's fantastic."

Before the conversation continued, a howl plowed through the place, followed by another, more acute one. Moments after the announcement, a couple of wolves appeared running into the garden, their coats covered in white dots. They stopped in the center and stayed there. Seconds later, the hawk landed on the male's back. Then a smaller Labrador Retriever appeared. Unlike the wolves, her pace was tranquil and calm. In a matter of minutes the entire group, including Penny and Soul, was together.

"What are our plans for today?" Delta asked.

" _Play."_

"What?!" Everyone gazed into the sky, visibly surprised.

"There was a rescue yesterday, you haven't been together in a long time. Also, someone wasn't present las Christmas. Take it as an opportunity to make up for the lost time. After all, making it snow takes plenty of energy, you know?"

"You made it snow, Soul."

" _That is accurate, lioness. A reward, perhaps? Anyway, this day is yours. Enjoy it."_ Soul's voice faded after that phrase.

"Okay, so what do we do?" Rhino asked.

Mega was the first one to smile from ear to ear.

* * *

The whole morning was spent on games. They made a snowman, that Mega melted; they made races in the snow; they made snow forts and snowball fights; Byte used her ability for making a little ice rink, that only Penny was able to use without slipping constantly; Mittens used Rhino's ball, with him inside, to make a giant snowball, leaving the hamster locked up in revenge for waking her up in the morning; they made _another_ snowman, who only survived Mega because Byte defended it, and after that they made a pretty solid and big snow castle.

When it was time for lunch, Penny's mom came out with food for her daughter, taking a big surprise when she saw her playing with the thirteen animals of her team.

"Darling?"

Penny stopped chasing Delta when she heard her mom's voice. "Hi, mom. What is it?"

"What are you doing?"

"Play," The girl said, shrugging. "Soul gave us a 'free day', so everyone came to play, especially with the snow."

"Okay, but go to bed early. Even if you won't be going to school until this is set, you have to rest."

"Yes, mom," Penny answered as she took the food that was for her.

The girl ate apart from the group and saw them form a circle. When she had finished, she joined in. Mega was talking.

"But I took out my katana of justice and boom! Bang! Pow! They did not have a chance!"

"What's he talking about?" Penny asked as she sat down.

"One of his fantasies," Byte answered while her brother made graphic representations of his story. "Since his imagination has no limit, he could just go on and on and on if we gave him enough time."

A slight current of air became present. Everyone knew what this meant, so they became silent.

"Sorry for the interruption, but there are a couple of things you gotta know. Today is still a free day; nevertheless, from tomorrow on we'll go back into training until February thirteen. That day, we attack."

"Woah, wait a sec," Penny said. "What do you mean 'we attack'?"

"Uh… like it sounds. We make an attack on their base."

"Master," Helang called. "Wouldn't it be better if we waited for them to make a movement?"

"I would normally say yes, Helang. But I know Centauri, he won't attack. The rescue and the trap were, in some way, tests. Since you managed to escape, he now know you are a real danger, so he'll allow you to make the first move, hoping you miss. Remember, Helang: defense ties…"

"Defense wins," The falcon completed.

"But then why don't we attack at once?"

"Because of the environment. February fourteen is a popular day for positive energy. Thirteen will be almost as loaded with it as fourteen, almost as much as Christmas. With the environment on our side we can take an advantage. As a plus, we'll finish this before Valentine's day, and you'll be able to spend it with your loved ones."

"So we're training these three weeks?"

"That's right, Mega. And on Feb thirteen we'll end this. With the pillar's help, of course."

"But we don't know yet who the pillar is," Bolt argued. "Can't you tell us?"

" _The pillar is between you three,"_ Soul repeated before leaving on another air flow. Then there was a silence.

"Then I guess we'll have to train to know who it is," Rhino commented in general.

After another silence, Peep stood up. "Let's keep pleeying," He proposed.

They discussed a little on what to play now. Hide and seek was chosen, and Helang was picked to seek first.

"No super-skills, Helang,"

"Neither from you, I guess, right?"

Mega looked at Helang for a few seconds, but nodded at the end.

"Now go hide," Helang said before standing on a branch and starting to count, with his face looking at the trunk and his eyes closed.

* * *

Centauri entered the room in silence. The only sound of the room was his breath. In front of him, two stretchers were holding up the bodies of Kia and the Pitbull. Both of them were still breathing, but it was so weak it was barely perceptible, even in the silence of the room. Scars, wounds and bandages were all over their bodies. Centauri walked in between them, placed a hand near their heads and whispered, "Now. Do it."

The dark energy on his hands began to move towards the animals. Like a gelatinous substance, the energy, when making contact with their heads, began to move through their bodies, breaking the bandages and filling in the wounds. At one point, both animals were totally covered, and not visible. Instead, two lumps of dark energy were there.

"Now come back," Centauri ordered.

In the same way, the dark energy began to retreat, leaving the bodies with several marks of the same dark tone where, minutes before, there had been wounds and bandages. Once both bodies had only dark energy filling in their wounds, Centauri shook his hands, making them change the color of their energy to a brown one, and placed them near the heads again. The energy advanced again, but this time in came inside the bodies through their nostrils and snouts while Centauri smiled.

* * *

"So we have to make maintenance to this crappy field and ready it for their attack," Shade said, visibly not happy. "How boring."

"Orders are orders, Shade. We can't do anything about it," The mentor replied. "At least he said we could start tomorrow and just check the place today."

"And we're not allowed to leave during this time?" James asked. "At all?"

"Right. We can't leave," At such answer, James and Bud exchanged a glance.

"But we can play in here, right?" The big shadow hurried to ask.

The mentor looked at them strangely, then shrugged. "I guess. Though there's not much you could play with in here." But by the time he looked again, both youngsters were no longer there. "The hell is happening to those two?"

"Game-addiction?" Alex giving while shrugging.

"I don't know, sir, but I don't think it's relevant," Shade added.

* * *

With the sunset coming in any time and the sky colored in orange, the group was gathered inside the barn, with the exception of Penny, who was helping her mother. They had been talking and joking around.

"So then, with everything ready and the cat screaming in fear, Bolt grabbed my ball with his paws and, very much heroically, jumped into the train," Rhino was saying, excited as if he were living it again. Bolt was a little ashamed of what he had done believing he had superpowers then, but the hamster had been telling his favorite parts of their journey.

"What about you, Mittens?" Mega asked the cat when Rhino was done telling all of his favorite moments.

"Me what?"

"What was your favorite part of the journey you three made?" The wolf insisted.

"Hmm… well…" The cat began to think. "I think it could be when we finally got here and Penny adopted us. Though… I also liked it when Bolt came back for me," She said, turning to looks at him. "You saved me, wags."

The dog blushed. "No, you saved me." When he saw that the cat was tilting her head, he clarified, "You saved me from myself."

"Well, you did too," She replied before licking his cheek.

"Okay, okay, we get it, man," Rhino complained. "You saved each other, leave it like that." Both of them looked at Rhino and nodded. "Okay, next topic."

"One last question for the lovebirds," Mega requested. Rhino, frowned, but moved his paw for him to proceed. "When are you planning to have a family, guys?"

The whole group looked at Mega and then at the couple. Mittens was blushing a lot, but Bolt –who clearly hadn't understand the background of that question–, simply answered, "Whenever she wants to," He said naturally. "Though I might need an explanation beforehand." Mittens buried her head in Bolt's side, wanting to be swallowed by the ground, while Mega smiled.

"Wait, so you don't…?"

" _Time's up,"_ Soul interrupted. _"Gotta go home, guys. Tomorrow we get back into training."_

They all got up and began to go home. When they got outside, they were surprised to see that it was actually dark already. Time had no doubt flown this day.

"Bolt," Mega called. "Come here for a minute."

The dog looked at his mate and she nodded, blushing still. She watched the shepherd get to where the wolf was and heard the beginning of their conversation. "What is it, Mega?"

"Come on, let's talk," The wolf answered as he turned around and began to walk around. "You know, when daddy wolf and mommy wolf love each other…"

Mittens got where Mega was going with that, and felt relieved that he was doing her the favor of explaining it to Bolt. She was sure it would have been a lot more uncomfortable if it had been her. _Thanks, Mega._

" _No prob, Mittens."_

Without further ado, she enteres the house and ate dinner in silence. After that she went upstairs and lay down on the bed, waiting for Bolt. In the meantime, she got to thinking.

She had never really stopped to think about having kids with him. She had dreamed about it, yes, but she had never actually thought about it. She knew that biologically and logically a cat-dog cross was impossible. But she also knew that a cat shouldn't be able to electrify her claws, or a dog to make a real life superbark, so she had hope that it was possible. Her concern had been to explain it to Bolt, but Mega was taking care of it now, so she was now 'cleared' to try. Maybe not now, since they still had a threat around and would attack it in three weeks. But it wouldn't last forever, and they could give it a go.

Then she heard a slight noise. It was Bolt, who had pushed the door to come in. Despite the darkness, Mittens saw his eyes lost. Not knowing why, she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep before he reached her. His steps stopped beside her, and the dog sighed, like the ones you make when you have no idea what to do. In silence, he lay besides her and wrapped her in his paws.

The cat didn't move, alert to any noise he could make, but there was none. Just when she thought Bolt had fallen asleep she heard him sigh again.

"What am I going to do?" He whispered to himself.

"Bolt?"

"Mittens! Did I wake you up?"

"No, I couldn't sleep," She lied. The she feigned dementia. "What did Mega want to talk about?"

Bolt froze when he heard that and began to blush. "Uh… well… he…. He explained something to me…"

"What was it?" She pressed.

"Uh… something very…" He stopped mid-sentence and sighed. "Is that really how puppies are born?"

"Well… did he mention dragons, stardust, antimatter or something similar?" Bolt shook his head. "Then yes, wags, that's how they're born."

"And… I-I have to…?"

Mittens nodded, noticing his expression. "You don't like the idea?"

"No, it's not that," He said quickly. "But I didn't think it would be… like that."

"But it's the only way, Bolt. Besides, it's not like we're doing it now," She said, trying to reassure him.

"Yeah, you're right," He answered.

"And… well…" She added, almost inaudible.

"And what?" Bolt asked.

"Well… it's also a way of showing affection, Bolt."

"I guess… you're right. Again." Bolt's tone was normal once more. "Okay, like I said in the barn, whenever you want to."

Mittens smiled and kissed him a couple of seconds before curling up next to him and saying goodnight.

* * *

"How come you don't remember the name of the dead guy, Bud?!" James asked in rage, but in a hushed tone as well.

"You don't remember it either," Bud argued, but James wasn't listening.

"Four letters, four letters, four letters, four letters. But which?" He said to himself. "It started with an 'S'. Sand? Silk? Salt?"

" _Soul, perhaps?"_

"That's it! Thanks, Bud."

The big shadow looked at his companion. "Uh… that wasn't me."

A chuckle was heard in the room. _"It was me. Hi."_

"Hi, sir," Both shadows said at a time, trying to hide their surprise.

" _You were looking for me?"_

"Yes, sir," James said respectfully. "We have some information that's important."

"I'm listening."

James and Bud quickly resumed all they had learnt about the preparations and the current situation.

" _Thanks for the info, guys,"_ Soul said when they finished. _"Be careful and don't get caught."_

"We won't. Thanks, sir,"

The shadows spent a few seconds in silence.

"Do you think maybe our friends can join in?"

"Perhaps. But we have to be extremely careful, or they'll give us away." Bud nodded and both shadows returned with the group.

* * *

Centauri was sitting in his chair. Soul's staff was on what was left of his desk, and its crystals flashed intermittently in its characteristic orange.

"Well, you made fun of them, but that won't work with me," Then, from a pocket, he took out a ring with a big red gem in it and placed it on his left ring finger. "Look, it still fits like a ring." He said, having fun alone. Then he got up from his chair and raised both hands. The energy that ran through them turned scarlet red and became thicker, now encompassing more space around his hands. The guy smiled. "Let's do it." And, abruptly, he placed one of his hands on the cane.

For a few seconds nothing happened. Then the staff began to vibrate and, slowly, the color of the wood began to change from dark brown to a dark purple; the effect began to expand as a plague for the staff. When it reached the nearest crystal, it began to flash very intensely. Seconds later, Centauri´s ring did the same, and the corruption of Centauri's hands began to wage an imperceptible battle with the staff itself. This conflict lasted several minutes, before the guy lost patience and placed his other hand on the other side of the crystal, sending a second wave of corruption that it could not face. The flash faded until the crystal became opaque and finally changed its color to red. The corrupted wave then expanded to the central crystal, which opposed a similar resistance, but quite less than the first. The last crystal did not resist and turned red without flashing at all.

Centauri smiled. "See what I'm saying? Nothing is impossible." He said to himself. "Now, bring it" he continued, raising the corrupt staff in his right hand. "Bring the stupid pillar to me and I will tear it down, because there is nothing, however solid, that lasts forever."

From another place, someone had "observed" the whole show.

"Nothing except existence itself, old friend. And maybe, just maybe, love. Well done, lioness." He told himself in a monologue similar to Centauri's . "Well done."

* * *

 **Hi there! How was it? Things are getting closer and closer to it, but beforehand, a somewhat different day for our team. Now, special thanks for reviewing to Basbon, ShadowScare and TheMattdude; I really appreciate it, guys. And once more, Merry Christmas, feliz Año Nuevo y nos vemos luego!**


	55. Help from a stranger

Chapter 55: Help from a stranger

During the next three weeks the team came back to its former routine of training. The whole group did its best and trained every single minute they had to spare. The shadows lived something similar, but dedicating their time to prepare the "field" Centauri had ordered them to, the one destined for the final confrontation.

During all that time, one member of the group was absent. Nobody knew anything about him, for he had not warned he would be away. He was trying to find a way to help his teammates, trying to soothe the damage they would no doubt suffer in the battle. Needless to say, he hadn't achieved anything, until the ninth day of the second month of the year.

He opened his eyes slowly, feeling a faint ray of sun on his face. Ha carved them and yawned as he stretched. Once done, he looked around, totally unconcerned. He was under an oak tree, in a beautiful plain full of flowers and with a lake at a certain distance from him. He started at the landscape for a few minutes, totally relaxed, before it hit him.

"What the hell am I doing here?!" He shouted. "Where am I?! How did I get here?!" Realizing no answer would come, he got to thinking. "Okay, just gotta pinch myself and… wait a sec… I should have no hands! I'm dead! The hell is going on here?!"

Surprised as he was, he jumped to his feet and ran to the lake. The reflection of a twenty-year-old man with mustache and beard in light brown and wearing robes and a tunic blinked back at him. "What the…?"

A chuckle interrupted him.

"Relax, slick."

The guy looked behind his back, but saw nobody. "Now what; what's this all about?" He asked overwhelmed.

"I brought you here to help you understand something, slick," The voice answered.

"Something like what? And don't call me slick. My name is–"

"You don't have a name. You're dead, slick," The voice interrupted, annoying him a little. "You asked your friends back there to call you Soul, but that's not my problem."

"Is there a problem with that?"

"No. But I can call you whatever I want to, slick."

Knowing that he wouldn't win that argument, and feeling more curious than anything else, he relaxed a little. "Fine, call me as you want to; but tell me what's all of this."

"Of course," The voice replied. "I created this little space here to explain you something important…"

"And you couldn't explain it just like it was?" The guy interrupted.

"Of course I could," The voice answered without the slightest trace of annoyance on the tone. "But it wouldn't be so funny. This way, we can chat a little while we walk around.

"Does that mean you have a body?" He asked, feeling his confusion grow.

"You're overthinking it. Relax, slick. I'm dead, just like you; but just like you, I can manifest myself in a physical way." The voice clarified with patience. "Now look at the oak under which you woke up."

Soul complied and looked at the tree. Under it there was an imposing and impressive black wolf; his blue eyes sparkled like diamonds. Not knowing why, as soon as he saw the animal, he went to meet him. He was even more surprised to find out it was twice the size of a normal wolf, since the animal reached his chin just like that.

"How tall are you?" He asked, feeling the need to know.

The wolf looked at him and then chuckled. "Back on Earth it would be, more or less, one meter eighty, or five feet," The wolf answered simply. "Now come, slick. There are some things you must understand." He added before starting to walk.

Soul looked at the animal for a few seconds before following it. "Okay, what do you want to explain to me?"

"What do you want me to explain?" The wolf asked back.

The question left Soul to think for a while. After a while he finally decided to ask, "You could start by explaining what am I doing here and why you did all of this for."

"You're here so that you finally understand. You want to help your team, and I'll help you help them," The wolf said. "And I… well, my name's not relevant, so call me whatever you want, slick. And I made this so our conversation would be more fun."

"Okay… Wolf. Now tell me how I can help my team in the battle."

"That is what you must discover alone," The wolf replied with a smile.

"Are you kidding me?" Soul asked in annoyance. "You just told me you were going to help me."

"I said I would help you help them, not that I was giving you the answer. But you don't really know anything. Let's stay here," The wolf instructed, lying down on the grass near the lake. "I'll explain. Pay attention, slick."

Soul sat crossing his legs in front of the wolf and watched him closely. It looked a little like Mega, except of course, for the size and color; but there was something more… something that seemed familiar to him, and he didn't know what it was.

"Let's start from the start. You're big, slick. You'll achieve great things, you'll be legendary…" The wolf couldn't continue since Soul started to laugh.

"Me, legendary?" He chuckled. "No, buddy. If someone around here was legendary, it was my father." He added. "He designed weapons and artifacts, altered things, made predictions and trained me and my friends. That is legendary. My father was Genesis, I understand that now. It was he who destroyed dark organizations previous to this one."

"Genesis is a name that will resonate for generations, no doubt about it," The wolf said. "But you have done something greater, slick."

"And that would be?"

"You broke the line."

Those four words confused him as much as he was when he first learned about shadows. "What are you even talking about, Wolf?"

"Original, the name you thought for me," The wolf said before answering. "Look, slick, you know that before being born there is a line drawn with the major aspects of your life, right?"

Soul nodded. "There it was written who my parents were, how many siblings would I have and some other things of major relevance."

"Exactly. Now, you know that this line, traced before birth is unalterable, right?" Soul nodded. "Then do me a favor and explain me what the hell are you doing here."

That confused him more. "What do you mean? I died, genius; that's why I'm here."

"And why did you die, if that's not how it was written?"

"What are you talking about?"

The wolf showed a mysterious smile. "You were meant to defend Penny and her mother and then tear the squad apart, not die there. That was written in your line. But it didn't happen like that. It was planned that you would train the team, yes, but from down there." Seeing that the guy was opening his mouth, the wolf nodded. "Yes, slick. You broke the lime of destiny; you altered it. Question is: How?"

"I… did that?" The boy asked after some minutes of being speechless.

"Have you ever wondered why nobody interacts with you here?" Soul nodded curiously. "Well, it's because of that. You did something nobody had done before. Someone who can challenge destiny can challenge nature itself, and that scares them."

"But we're all dead. There shouldn't be human emotions here." Soul said, feeling more confused every time.

"That's my point, slick. Here, like everywhere, there are levels. Level one has souls that yet have some more to learn. They don't have a lot of experience and have not lived more than five or six lives." Once again, when Soul was about to ask, the wolf didn't let him. "You have lived four. You only remember the last one to keep you focused on your task right now, and to avoid confusion. Imagine waking up here remembering four different lives." Soul nodded and the wolf continued. "Souls at level one find wisdom and peace here, but they're still subjective to some human emotions and concerns in the physical world. You, for example, continue to care for those you did in life, even though you're here and they're not; in the same way, you care about the outcome of that battle, even though you know nature would stop darkness if it were too strong."

"But we're trying to…"

"To avoid further suffering and loss, I know. And you have Mother Nature's permission; otherwise you wouldn't even be able to contact them from here. Now, level two souls leave behind almost every human emotion, but they still have a slight trace of them. The superior you've been contacting to get into the records is almost reaching level three. These souls have lived between ten and twelve lives. They understand that things always happen like they're meant to, and thus, don't feel the need to intervene in the physical worlds. If they ever were to live again, they would probably be monks, wise-men, or similar things. Level four souls take to the extreme the concept of 'being one', which, I understand, you already know."

"I think so," Soul hesitated. "If everything is energy, then we all are… and we come from a same source of energy?"

"Right, slick. That source is Mother Nature or the Universe. So, we all come from that same source of energy, making us all part of oneself. The souls in level four take it to the maximum expression. A soul that reaches level four merges itself with the others, in something similar of what you wanted to do in that omicron project of yours, forming an impressive collective intelligence loaded with tons of wisdom. That thing is known as the council of Nature, since they are in the highest rank and only Nature herself outranks them, and thus they're given the task of keeping various issues in order. They have lived at least 30 lives, and are totally objective and impartial in their job, almost like a droid. It's highly unlikely that they'll be born again once they reach that level, and it makes a lot of souls stay on level three, even if they're able to rise to four."

"And what level are you?"

"Recently got to two."

"What?" Soul asked in surprise. He was expecting a level four deserter or something like that. "How do you know all that then?"

"It's simple, slick. You just have to listen."

"But we don't have ears," Soul pointed out, feeling a laugh coming up his throat.

"What I mean is that you pay attention to what others transmit. Here there are no divisions. All levels coexist together; if you pay attention you could find a level three or four around and talk to them."

"Okay, Wolf," Soul said, though he still had a doubt on his mind. "But you still haven't told me how to help them."

"True," The wolf said. "Perhaps because I went into a full explanation of levels and so. Okay, like I said, you managed to do something nobody else has done. How or why it doesn't matter now; you did it. If you managed to do that, you can do other things nobody has done."

"But I don't understand how that helps me," Soul remarked. "I'm still here and they're there. We're not on the same world." Wolf didn't answer for a while, like he was waiting for Soul to understand. He was just staring at him. "You… you mean I have to go back to the physical world?"

"Give him a medal!" The wolf exclaimed.

"Okay, man, you're crazy," Soul declared.

"I'm not; I just know things you don't. Besides, you said it, slick, I just gave you a thumb up on it."

"You're telling me that I have to go back to the physical worlds to help them, and that's impossible! No one has returned from the death in quite some time, and probably only level three or four souls can do that. The other way is to be born again… do you have any idea how much time would that spend? At least twenty years for me to be in shape to face him, and that would be if I don't end up being a couch potato," Soul complained.

"You were doing so, so well, slick… it's a pity." The wolf stood up, raised a leg and, to Soul's surprise, hit him in the head with great strength. "Of course not, you idiot! I'm not asking you to come back from death or be born again. I'm telling you that you must get back to the physical world to help them out. Find yourself another way!"

"But I'm not my father!" He spat back. "I can't do great things like him!"

"Nobody is asking you to do great things like him," the wolf scolded. "I'm asking you to do a legendary thing like _yourself._ Listen up, slick; there's a reason for everything. You have a pillar almost ready down there, but not even a full-powered one will beat _him_ if Centauri is still standing."

"False; the pillar can do whatever…"

"Whatever it feels capable of doing. Look at your pillar, slick. It won't feel capable of defeating _him_ ; more so after what your older kid explained to them." Before the man could interrupt, Wolf turned and started walking. When Soul arrived at his side, he kept talking. "It's true that the pillar must defeat _him,_ but you must defeat Centauri beforehand so the pillar can do its job. For that you must go back there."

"How?"

"I think you already know the answer to that, right?"

"Then it is possible?"

"Everything is possible, slick. Imagination is the limit." The smile the wolf had placed while saying that then vanished. "Listen, slick, the confrontation will be fierce and any of them could die. Are you willing to risk their lives instead of waiting?"

Soul took his time. In that group there were fourteen living and emotional beings to whom, even dead, he had affection. And everyone was going to fight; but they were going to do it because he was asking them, would it be a fair price to pay, the possible loss of some of them, to stop something that nature would stop sooner or later on its own? He wondered if it would be worth it, if it would be the 'right thing' and many other things, while he kept walking in Wolf's company. Finally he came to a conclusion. _Light can't exist without dark, but in our world, darkness must not be allowed to flourish. And if it's on our hands to stop, then we must try and stop it._ "I will face the darkness; anyway, if I didn't have permission from Nature, as you said, I wouldn't be able to made contact with them. And if I give the team the opportunity to defect, I doubt that any of them will take it."

"Well said, slick. Just do me a favor and remember at all times that imagination is the limit," Wolf said before taking a deep breath. "And remember also that you are, you will be, legendary. Genesis will echo for generations, but you, my friend, will echo throughout the entire existence. Psyon, Soul, Edward; it does not matter how, but everyone involved in this, whether in the present or in the future, here or on Earth, in this dimension or in another, will know your name. You will do great things, slick, and I don't need the premonition to confirm it." Finally, the wolf placed on a serious expression. "Listen up, slick. This confrontation will be decisive; the pillar can stop the darkness, but only if you do your part, like everyone else in the team. It's up to you to beat Centauri, if you don't, the pillar won't be able to fulfil its goal and everything will be in vain."

"That will not happen," Soul assured. "I'll comply with my part and the pillar will do its own. We'll stop Centauri and return darkness to its natural area."

"I like your talking. Hope you fight the same,"

Seconds after the wolf finished speaking and they both halted, another set of footsteps was heard in the distance.

"Who else is here to see me?" Soul asked, hoping to get out of there as soon as possible. Now knowing that his plan was possible he wanted to make sure everything was ready before anything else.

Wolf chuckled. "You overestimate yourself, slick. She came here for me."

"Where have you been?" A female voice came from the oak where he had woken up. Looking in that direction, a beautiful puma, much bigger than anyone from Earth, was standing underneath the tree, looking for Wolf apparently. "You better not be chasing squirrels when there are things to be done _again_."

"Gotta go, slick; she doesn't like me late," He quickly whispered before raising his voice and running towards her. "I'm going, honey!"

"Honey?" Soul asked as he watched the wolf jump on the cougar and make her roll on the ground, both pushing and playing. Still confused, he walked towards them, hoping for an explanation. "What…?"

Wolf interrupted him. "She's my mate, slick. Or did you believe your friends on Earth were the only canine-feline couple in existence?"

"Pleasure," The cougar said while tilting her head down a little. Her voice was soft and motherly.

Soul watched them both for a few minutes. They both had something familiar in their presences, but he couldn't figure it out. At least not for Wolf.

"You," He told the cougar as he pointed at her. "You guided me to where Helang fell from his nest."

The feline nodded with a smile and that clarified it for him. Regarding the male, Soul couldn't recall meeting any other wolf besides Yin, Yang and his kids. Wolf didn't resemble any of them.

"Don't overthink it, slick; you'll melt your brain," The black wolf said finally. Then he turned to his mate. "Come on, honey, there's a place I want to show you."

"Really?" She asked. "Which one?"

"It's a surprise, pretty."

She smiled at him and they both turned around and began to walk away from Soul; they waved goodbyes with their tails and he waved back before feeling dumb. If they had their backs on him, how would they know if he waved back? Then Soul felt a slick electric shock and received some information. He had to lie down and go to sleep under the oak. Wouldn't be so complicated, he thought, since the "sun" was already setting. But before that he looked into the direction the couple had taken.

 _I know that couple. I know she took me to Helang, but from somewhere else also; him, too._

After some minutes, he leaned back under the oak and closed his eyes.

 _Achieve the impossible, huh? Guess I have no other choice._

* * *

 **Heya guys! Yep, late again. But this time it was different, y'know? Yesterday the site wouldn't let me upload the document, let alone publish it. I even tried copy-paste, but it did some weird things to the text, specially in size and with the italics and some other things, so I preferred to wait 'till today to try again. So, this was a rather different chapter, and it has its own importance, that you'll see in a couple of weeks. Anyway, special thanks to Basbon ans ShadowScare for reviewing last chapter. I guess there's no more to say so now vemos luego!  
**


	56. The last details

Chapter 56: The last details

"Soul!" Bolt called. "Soul, we need some help here!"

"He's probably doing something important," Helang guessed.

"But we still need a plan," Rhino pointed out. "We can't just knock on their door, not after what James and Bud told us."

Not giving any chance for another dialogue, the typical air flow that indicated Soul's arrival came in; followed by the voice everyone had been waiting to hear.

" _Hello there. Sorry for the delay, I had some things to investigate,"_ Soul said while he recalled some of the last advice the wolf had given him a little after that episode and without any physical form.

"Okay, so now let's think of a plan."

" _Okay, Mega… instead of planning everything, I'm going to ask you to trust me,"_ Soul requested, puzzling just about everyone.

"Wait a sec," Penny raised her voice over the rest of them. "Are you telling us that we're going there in two days… with no plan?"

" _Nope,"_ Soul corrected. _"I'm telling you to trust me on this one. Of course I have a plan, but I need you to…"_

"Trust you," The girl interrupted.

"Yes, please. But let's get on to the next topic, shall we? Today's late, so everyone should be heading back to sleep. Tomorrow I'll give you some more details on it and that should be enough."

When he was done saying that, another air current passed through, making it clear that Soul had left.

"Guess we'll have to listen to him," Kass muttered in general.

There were a couple more dialogues, but after two or three minutes everyone was on the way back home. Kass was the only one to take another route. He wanted to be alone, he needed to think. But he didn't succeed on it.

 _"Hello again,"_

"Huh, are you here to explain something else?" The cat asked sarcastically.

 _"In fact, I'm here to ask you a favor."_

The orange feline grunted slightly, but he knew he had not much of a choice, so he paid attention to what the soul had to ask for.

A few minutes later, Helang was arriving at the camp, just ahead of the other three; he settled down on his branch and sat down to meditate. However, his master's voice echoed inside his head moments later.

 _"Hello, Helang,"_

 _Master! Is there something wrong?_

 _"No, kiddo, I'm just gonna ask you three things: First, trust me like always; second, don't tell anyone else what you're about to hear."_

 _And… third?_ The bird asked after a few seconds.

 _"Pay attention, please."_

* * *

Bolt had finished his dinner; he was already lying down and falling asleep until he heard a voice in his mind.

 _"Hello, Bolt,"_

 _Soul!_ The dog thought, almost out loud out of impression.

 _"Sorry for startling you, and for the hour but I have a question or two to ask you."_

 _What is it, Soul?_

 _"Do you trust me?"_

 _Of course I do,_ The shepherd answered immediately.

 _"Totally?"_ The soul insisted.

 _Totally._

 _"Okay… If something were to happen to Mittens and it were on your paws to stop it, but I told you not to do anything, would you trust me?"_

Unlike the first two questions, the dog didn't answer immediately. He gave it a long thought before coming to a conclusion.

 _Why wouldn't I? I mean, if you asked me to trust you in such situation it would be because you have something planned, right? After all, you're quite wise and have resources none of us possess._

 _"You flatter me, Bolt. And you answered my question the way I was hoping you would. I'm going to ask you to place that trust on me for the next few days; no matter what, while I'm still here I'll do everything within my reach to ensure your well-being."_

 _Thanks, Soul,_ The dog thought gratefully.

 _"You're welcome. Now get some rest, Bolt."_

* * *

Three shadows were working on the field that was almost ready for the upcoming battle. There was no noise in the place besides the ones their tools made; each one seemed on its own thoughts. That, of course, until they heard a voice in the air.

 _"Hi there,"_

The two young shadows stopped what they were doing immediately and stood firm, like soldiers, before saying, "Sir!"

Soul chuckled towards their attitude. _"It's okay, guys, at ease. Umbra, come here."_

The third shadow, silently as always, reached the other two and grunted several times.

 _"Yes, I know. Listen, I'm going to need tour help on the day of the battle."_

"Anything, sir," James assured.

 _"Okay, now listen up. If I'm not mistaken, what you're placing on the walls is what I think it is."_ The three shadows nodded and waited for him to continue. _"Well, I want you to finish placing them. Keep obeying Centauri until the day. But I need you to do something important."_

* * *

It was silent. It had been since only one specter used the house. The other one was in a mission, and the lonely light was often left to think about many things. This night, however, a curious voice interrupted its thoughts.

 _"Hello, Lux. Don't say anything, I just need you to listen to me. There's gonna be a confrontation soon and I need your help for something important."_

The light nodded slowly, a little bit confused. Then it began to pay attention to Soul's instructions.

* * *

After he had given everyone all the information they needed to know, Soul returned to the place he belonged to. He found another soul just as soon as he arrived.

"Hi," It greeted cheerfully.

"What now?" Soul asked, maybe a little too harsh.

"I have some advice," This soul kept going without caring for the tone.

"Okay, but you have to tell me something first."

"What?"

"Why do you help me so much? Nobody had done it before, any level, and suddenly you appear and begin to guide my steps. Why?" Soul asked.

There was no immediate response. In fact, it was pretty long the silence that occurred before there was an answer.

"Because I know what could happen if you fail; and you wouldn't understand it, it's not even on the archives."

"That's not…"

"It doesn't matter. If I stop ad explain it to you, we'll waste time."

"Time is flexible here," Soul pointed out.

"Down with your friends it's not," Wolf countered. "Now listen; I already know what you're going to do. In fact, you'll probably have some spectators, especially from the first two levels. Curiosity is a feeling some of them still feel. Now listen; you're dead, so he can't kill you. But you'll have a limited supply of energy to use, which, I understand, you've been storing in those time lapses in which you didn't contact the group." Soul nodded silently to let him keep talking. "Okay, that's your supply then. If it runs out, you will return to this place and won't be able to intervene in the battle anymore. It will happen anyway, but if it happens before you beat Centauri, you lose."

"I'm aware of that," Soul replied calmly. "That's why I was planning on doing the jump at the last moment."

"And that's a good plan, but I have a couple of suggestions. First, you may use the skills and abilities that you knew back there; they won't spend too much energy, so feel free to use them. Second, don't jump from here to there. Making a jump consumes a lot of energy. Just a couple of them could empty your reserves, especially if they are consecutive."

"Okay. Don't jump, do use abilities," Soul summarized.

"Just like that," Wolf confirmed. "Now you just need to finish preparing them."

"They're almost ready,"

"They still don't know who the pillar is."

"They will…"

"Or won't," Wolf interrupted.

Soul sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway, the pillar is there. They don't need to know who is to use it, as long as they do properly. I trust them to find out in time."

"Whatever you say, slick."

* * *

It was already midday and the whole group was once more in the barn, discussing Soul's peculiar planning about the battle. In particular, Helang and Kass were keeping silent –much more than usual.

"Wait a sec," Mega said at some point. "Master asked us to trust him; we know he won't let us die just like that, so we should be really thinking about other issues."

"Well, thanks, Mega," Soul's voice echoed in the place. "I'm not staying long. Just came to give you some suggestions. Sleep a lot today; you three, kids, sleep for once. Tomorrow we leave about ten-thirty. Have a good breakfast, drink water, meditate if you can. Those will help y'all in the battle."

And after this, there was no noise whatsoever.

"Okay, Mega's right," Byte pointed out a minute or two later. "We should concentrate on other matters."

"The three of us could practice the synchronization. That would be useful no doubt," Her brother added.

"Sounds good; the rest of us could train," Delta said. "Bu there's another issue we haven't taken care of."

"What?"

"The pillar. We still don't know who is it."

The whole group turned their gaze to the trio of friends who were sitting next to each other, as if waiting for the revelation that they knew who the pillar was. However, Bolt only shook his head, telling everyone that they still didn't have such information.

"Fine, but don't stay there," Beta snapped at them. "You must have some clue by now!"

"I'm sorry, but we don't know anything," Bolt apologized in name of the three.

"Not true," Peep intervened. "Of course… y'know something… you just don't know… what you know." Since everyone just looked expectant (and some even confused) at him, he kept talking. "Tell me… between you three… who do you think it is?"

The three shared a look for a few seconds and ended up answering at the very same time, to everyone's surprise, pointing to each other.

"It's Bolt," Mittens assured.

"It's Rhino," The dog affirmed.

"It's the cat," The hamster declared.

"You see? We're… progressing already."

"I don't see how, Peep," Jonathan told him. "Each one pointed to another."

Peep placed on a mysterious smile. "You'll see, John… you'll… see." Then he looked back at the three. "Why do you believe that?"

"But, please, one by one," Kass added, apparently just out of his thoughts.

Again, the three of them looked at each other for a second.

"Ladies first?" Bolt suggested, looking at Mittens, to which she nodded.

The cat took a few seconds to think how would she back up her opinion about the pillar's identity. "Well… Bolt was the candidate to be a pillar from the beginning; it was him who they came looking for when we met," She said gesturing Soul's students. "Just like the shadows. He was the one who progressed the most in training, and it was not until I corrected his memories that the pillar spoke to us. That's why I think it's him."

"Okay," Peep said thoughtfully after Mittens had finished. "Bolt?"

Bolt nodded. "I think it's Rhino. Although from the beginning they were looking for me, he was never far from reaching the requirements for being a pillar. As soon as Soul clarified that it could be any of us, I immediately thought of Rhino, even if you three thought it was me; not only because of the description, but because it is thanks to him that we both made it through our trip. He helped us both when we thought it was over." He seemed to be done, but after a few seconds he quickly added. "He also helped up with Kia that day, and the pillar's voice didn't sound until he was there with us."

"All right. Rhino?"

The hamster cleared his throat. "Okay, I believe the cat is the pillar and here's the reason. If she didn't progress as much as me and Bolt, it was because she was distracted or not motivated enough. As soon as she focused into the training, her progress skyrocketed like toy sales on December. Besides, putting love aside and all of that, she was the one who recovered more of Bolt's memories, and the one who finally corrected them. I rest my case."

When Rhino was done speaking, everyone turned to Peep, expectant. The little, half-breed dog was smiling, but with a slightly different touch, like the way a kid smiles when they discover something that their friends don't know. Whatever it was, he refused to say it out loud. A minute. Two minutes. Five minutes.

"Don't you tell me… you haven't realized it yet."

The three of them looked more confused and shook their heads.

You'll find out," He assured them. "At your time."

"But couldn't you tell us?" Mega asked out of desperation.

"Nope," Peep chuckled. "It wouldn't be… funny like that."

Mega sighed. "Fine; now what?"

"Let's plee," Peep proposed with that same smile. He didn't even wait for the rest of them to respond before he had left the barn. "We can train… after mealtime, in the… afternoon," He added from outside.

The group slowly followed Peep's lead, still baffled for his lack of communication. Delta stopped the little guy before he started to run.

"Will you tell us who it is after playing?"

But he shook his head.

"Why not?" Flor asked.

"Because… doesn't matter. As long as they… do their best… we'll all be fine," He said, quite confident of his own words. "Besides… it's mysteous."

And without giving them the chance, he began to run, slowly dragging the others into playtime. The afternoon went in for training and a couple attempts of contacting Soul, all of them failed, before sunset. The group agreed to meet in the barn next morning and everyone went home. Everyone had dinner, even Mega, Byte and Helang, who for the first time in a long, long time, hunted something. They caught a couple rabbits, and the hawk had enough with one mouse. Following the teachings of their Master, they thanked for their prey and the energy the food was going to give them. Beta ate with her siblings, behind their person's back, and caught up with the wolves after dinner. Penny told her mother what was going to happen the next day; the woman didn't seem calm at all, but she couldn't do anything about it. She just told her daughter to take good care of herself.

* * *

"Okay, fools, take a look at this," Centauri ordered after breaking into the investigation room.

The research shadows, not knowing what their boss was up to, simply followed his steps as he walked down the aisle and back into his office. Once inside, he went to his desk and signaled for them to come closed. Doubtfully, they did. And they both received a hit on the head. Before having the chance to complain, the shadows noticed that they had been hit with the object they had described as 'incorruptible'.

"What did you say about this?" He asked them after letting them observe the staff for a few seconds. "I believe it was something about not being able to be corrupted."

"Sir, we…"

"'We' nothing. Out of here. Your punishment is to tell everyone to take positions for tomorrow."

"Sir…"

"Now," He interrupted again.

The shadows, seeing that he wouldn't listen, simply turned around and left the office. However, there was something that may have been of importance, and that's that both shadows, upon receiving the blow on their head, had felt something. Something revolving around that staff, that may have been of his concern.

* * *

 **Hey there! How was it? how are we? Did you guess the identity of the pillar? Soon enough, my friends, soon enough. Anyway special thanks to Basbon, ShadowScare and TheMattdude for reviewing last chapter and showing their support constantly, you guys really help me keep going. Alright, I think that's all I have to say right now, so nos vemos luego!**


	57. Antipaty talk

Chapter 57: Antipathy talk

The alarm clock rang no more than twice before Penny turned it off. She, like her three pets, knew what was going to happen that very day. She had set her alarm for seven-thirty to have enough time to prepare everything.

"Guys," She called to the animal trio. "Wake up. Come one, we have to check that everything is in order." She added before getting out of bed and go into the bathroom.

"Well, I guess today's the day," Rhino muttered thoughtfully.

"That's right, buddy," Bolt confirmed. "And we'll be together. 'Till the end, the three of us; no matter what."

Mittens licked his cheek sweetly in response, while Rhino nodded, for once, seriously. No matter what, they would remain together. Nothing would ever separate them again.

* * *

"Well, I hadn't slept like that for a long, long time!" Mega exclaimed as he stretched. "I even felt like I was wasting time, man."

"Since you always waste your time, I think it's wonderful that you finally realized it," His sister joked.

The wolf didn't answer with words, grimaced at her and then turned to his daughter to wake her up. Helang appeared moments later, back from patrol.

"Nothing. Like they said, all of the shadows must be waiting for us."

"Uncle Helang?" Beta called. "How are we going to fight so many shadows?"

The falcon hesitated a little on how to answer that question. "Do you trust me, Beta?"

"Of course I do."

"Do it, then." He said. "We'll be fine."

Beta's gaze was still doubtful, but after a few seconds she nodded to him.

* * *

"You will be fine. Just remember what you father and aunt taught you. Cover your backs and protect each other."

"I still don't understand, though, how do you face them without trouble."

"I was born and raised in the streets, Alpha. I trained practically since I was a kit; that doesn't mean you're not strong enough or that you're not up to the task, understand?" Kass looked at both siblings. "We are different. I know things you don't and you'll know things I don't, okay?"

"Yes, Kass," They both answered in union.

"Alright. Now, breakfast; if we hurry, maybe I'll hunt a mouse or two on the way to the meeting point." Having said that, the cat left the room and went to have his breakfast.

Delta looked at Alpha a few seconds later.

"Should we?"

"We shall."

* * *

"How do you feel, buddy?"

"Am… eezing, John," Peep said with his characteristic smile.

"And you, Flor?"

"Nervous," She said. "This is… drastic. Anything could happen."

"Gonna be fine," Peep assured her. Jonathan agreed with a nod.

"It's time, guys. Let's see what fate has for us."

* * *

It was about nine. Bolt, Mittens, Rhino and Penny were in the barn, waiting for the rest to arrive. Peep, Flor and Jonathan were the first ones, and they joined in the conversations they were having. From there, it only took half an hour to assemble the whole group.

"Okay, you were ready before. Congratulations… I guess."

"Okay, so are we leaving?" Megas asked, clearly anxious to get going.

"Patience; everything at its due time. You have a whole hour for reviewing details. And it's of utter importance that we don't leave before half past ten. Maybe even until eleven.

"Why? What do you have in mind, Soul?"

" _Oh, you'll see, lioness. And don't ask me who the pillar is; you know the answer I'll say."_ There were no comments. Everyone remained silent. _"I'll be back when it's time."_

The team spent all its time talking. They remembered some things and commented on how they felt about the attack. Just before Soul came back, Penny had asked her pets about their trip.

" _Sorry, lioness, but that'll have to wait. It's time."_ He said before they could start to talk.

"Very well, team," Helang nodded. "Let's go."

Everyone moved around the city stealthily, especially the pair of wolves, and arrived to the building when it was just past eleven thirty. To their surprise, the outside of the building still looked the same, like no explosion ever happened.

" _Centauri probably placed on some kind of illusion to it,"_ Soul explained before anyone asked.

Nobody answered; they just entered the building, Penny crouching, ready for whatever was waiting for them. The inside was still covered in cinder, debris and broken pieces of building.

"And we're having a fight, like, _here?_ " Rhino said, clearly disappointed. "I was expecting something more… dramatic."

"Too much TV, rodent," Mittens told him. "It doesn't matter where the fight is, but who gets alive from it."

A grim laughter covered the air before they could keep talking. Apparently it was coming from a loudspeaker. _"Welcome,"_ And it was obviously Centauri. _"I guess you were expecting to have my minions to get on you by now. Let me assure you that it won't be like that. You are totally safe, as long as you stay in there. This is how it works: Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's, isn't it?"_ He said with hatred before spitting from wherever he was. _"I never really celebrated that stupid day; but you seem to have at least one reason to celebrate it. You can't, though, if you're dead. I am giving you the opportunity to leave my property, because it_ is _my property, and return in two days, after your dumb celebration."_

"Can you count, buddy?" Mega asked aloud.

"Yes, dog. Let me guess, I should… count you out?"

"Precisely. And it's wolf, not dog."

There was a minute of tense silence.

"Very well. If you're so keen to die today, go down to the basement. There's a corridor behind the second door on the left. Follow it."

Needless to say, nobody was eager to obey Centauri's instructions, and for pretty obvious reasons. Helang was the one to say it out loud anyway.

"Why should we trust you?"

"You don't have to. However, I will tell you, if you stay there, nothing will happen. You'll waste your time unless you listen and, just to be sure, I guarantee you safety until you reach the field."

No chance for them to answer, and the microphone was turned off with its characteristic sound, just before another silence.

"Are we going to do as he said?" Delta asked.

"Yes. The guy is nuts and everything, but he keeps his word," Flor said. "If he guaranteed it, then he won't attack. He probably has something ready in that… field."

"Very well. Let's go then."

Nobody complained or doubted as they followed his instructions and walked downstairs into the basement. Behind the door Centauri had mentioned, there was that corridor, and it seemed infinite. They got inside and started to walk.

"Do we have a plan?" Byte asked after some minutes of walking.

"Defeat Centauri and restore the balance; live to tell the story if you want." Mega told her.

"Don't listen to me, but it sounds more like an objective than a plan."

"To trust your master sounds any better?"

Byte took her time. She was obviously not so happy to walk in there without a solid plan she knew about. "Okay, Master, I'll trust you."

"Alright. Now, quiet and ready. I can sense him, and he's excited."

After Soul's warning the group walked a few more meters before hitting another door. This one was metallic, and Penny opened it with a loud and piercing screech. Behind it there was a much better scenery than in the building.

They were in some kind of warehouse or indoor stadium. Whatever it was, it was big. Very big. The ceiling was almost totally glass, allowing the entry for natural light in abundance; rounded, forming a dome over their heads, several meters above them. The edges of the ceiling were of metal, making shade into the edges of the place, though they weren't dark. There were small channels, very thin, all along the shore of the place, carrying a bright orange liquid. Lava was the first guess, but the idea was discarded since it was just too much. At the other end, on the opposite wall, there was a stone statue. As they moved towards the center of the place, it became visible that it was dragon-shaped. At each of its sides, the statue was lightened by a couple of torches that were lit. The walls and floor looked metallic, with screws and nails visible on many sides, in addition to being segmented. What was that? A robotic, mechanical room or something like that? Was there something behind the walls? Where was Centauri?

A mechanical sound echoed around the room. Seconds later, one of the many plaques of the floor sliced to a side, leaving a space through which emerged the figure of a man, hooded, standing on top of another plaque. Unlike how he always dressed, he was now wearing clothing very similar to Soul's, with much darker and somber colors. Some bloodstains here and there, as well as several places where the cloth was torn and worn by time. His pupils, in phosphorescent violet, rested on each of the visitors' eyes for a few moments. On his left hand he wore a ring, apparently gold, with a scarlet bright gem of considerable size on it.

"Hello there," He greeted as if talking to old friends. "I see you chose to die today. Not… the best of the decisions, but who am I to judge you?"

"Games aside, Centauri," Mega snapped. "This ends today."

"I couldn't agree more, wolf. But first," He kept talking as he turned around, facing the dragon and with his back on them. "Let's have a little talk."

"Why would we talk to you?" Beta spat.

Centauri turned around again. "You hurt me, Beta. You and Flor served me well; it is a real pity that I have to kill you both now." He said cynically. Then he walked some steps towards the group. "You have a pillar among you," He said while looking at Bolt. The dog looked into his eyes and didn't lower his gaze, for intimidating Centauri was. "And that displeases me. Although, honestly, I was hoping that Psyon would have taught you better. Knocking into my door with no plan is pretty stupid, isn't it? But hey, he was quite stupid himself; figured he could only teach that to his subordinates. My first question is: where is your beloved leader now, huh?"

Everyone had adopted an aggressive position. Penny in particular had clenched her fists and frowned as she heard how he was talking of Soul. It was predictable that they would speak in his defense and yet it was no necessary.

" _I am here, silly,"_ The dead one called. _"Caring over them and guiding them as I did in life."_

The surprise on Centauri's voice was notorious, though he hid it pretty well, and kept going. "Hello, old friend," He said before spitting on the floor.

" _Hi,"_ Soul answered curtly.

"Okay, now a more specific question," Centauri went on. "And it's for Bolt."

Upon hearing that, the shepherd could only assume what it was going to be about. Centauri had made it clear from the beginning, and repeated it over and over.

"Tell me something, Bolt," Centauri said as he crouched in front of him to reach his height. Bolt would have loved to bite his nose right there, but he couldn't. One: Soul had asked for them to trust him, and that meant 'stand by' until he received an instruction. Two: Bolt could sense energy transformers all over the room. Any superskill he used would spend energy, and due to those he wouldn't be able to recover it. Three: due to number two, if Centauri got mad and attacked, he would have to upper hand. The best card to play was patience, until they could figure a way to put things together. "If you had to choose between your beloved cat and your beloved person, who would you choose?" He asked before getting up and walking a few feet away from him.

The dog thought quickly. He had no way to know if it was a trap, trick question or what. He was just about to respond when Mega intervened. "He doesn't have to tell you anything."

Centauri looked at the wolf. The he placed a hand on his chin, as if thinking. "Well, you're right, wolf." He said, surprising more than one. "Fair is fair. You answered one of my questions, so now I answer one of yours."

It looked like Mega was going to speak again, but Helang, from his back, gestures him to stay quiet with a wing. Then the hawk asked, "What's your plan?"

A sigh, probably of disappointment, came from Centauri's mouth. "I expected you to be a _little_ more creative than that, bird." Centauri snapped his fingers and all out of nowhere hundreds of shadows appeared through the walls and floor, surrounding the team. In a matter of seconds, each one was grabbed by four or five shadows and separated from the rest. "However, fair is fair. I'll tell you a little, but first let me ask a couple more questions."

"I… guess…" The hawk said, still a little bit shocked by the spontaneity of the event. However, the fact that Centauri had ordered that would only mean that he feared that, after revealing his plans, they would put a stop to them. This, in turn, meant two things: That Centauri was going to talk, and that his plans could be stopped.

"Very well. I hate to set y'all aside, but my questions are still for Bolt." The man walked to the shepherd and stopped a few feet away from him. "Bolt, look to your right, please," He instructed. The dog, not having much of a choice, obeyed reluctantly. His gaze stopped when it encountered Mittens', and he got lost in her eyes for some seconds. "Now I ask: Do you really love her?"

"With all my heart," The dog assured as he looked back to Centauri.

"Of course, of course," Centauri turned and started walking away. "After all, you went against nature herself to be mates. The real question is: How often do you tell her that?"

Bolt froze by that question. He quickly tried to remember, but failed miserably. He had to have told her at some point! He had to, right? But he couldn't remember a single time.

Centauri noticed his expression and kept going. "Well, while you think of that, I'm going to answer you feathered friend's question. But you have it on you, dog, and you better answer when I ask you again." Nobody understood the tone Centauri used for that.

Bolt felt bad. Ha he really spent so much time with her, and not once told her he loved her? He said it the night they became a couple, but after that? Really, not one time?

While he was thinking, Centauri was still talking. "My plan is infallible, and it's so for a simple reason: I have many," He boasted. "I'll tell you one or two. Like Beta and Flor probably told you, I have a lot of energy. Then why, if I could make an enormous amount of shadows and use them to conquer the world, would I save so much dark energy? The answer is standing right behind me." He said, signaling to the dragon statue.

"What in the world are you talking about?" Jonathan asked, trying to provoke him with his tone.

"If you were quiet, I would have said it already. The dragon over there is not a stupid statue, as you stupidly believed. It's a real dragon.

There was a loud shout from everyone, except Bolt, who was still thinking, about how ridiculous and fictional that sounded.

"Shut! I don't care if you believe it or not, the beast is real. Psyon, come and enlighten your stupid disciples!"

" _I don't know if_ that _one is real, but the truth is pretty much everything from mythology once was part of this planter. Creatures of that type lived in these places a long time ago. However, humanity and its 'progress', ended up extinguishing almost all of those creatures, for more than one reason. One was religion: In the middle ages the Catholic church was very powerful, and creatures like dragons were not approved by it, so it became popular to hunt and kill those beasts. Many other mythological creatures were chased until extinction by similar things, and it is still not known if there are survivors up to this day."_

"Thank you. That dragon survived humans and hid in Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. During a volcanic explosion, the beast got covered in lava and entered hibernation inside the rock shell that formed around its body. If the dragon lives or not, can only be found by breaking the rock. But dragons were generous, and they were credited for guarding balance and protecting nature. Those beasts would have never allowed something like globalization, and that's another reason why they're not here anymore. Now, if the beast survived, the only way to get it to listen to me is corrupting its very soul, with all the negative energy I have. That done, it will obey my command with no question and I will be unstoppable, for only mythology can destroy mythology, and it would take years for someone to find another beast like mine."

"But you don't even know if it is alive, or if the energy will work. Heck, you don't even know if there's a dragon in there!"

"Silence!" Centauri shouted. "That's why I have other plans, idiot. If the dragon is not alive, well, I will use the energy on myself. Same thing, but with no dragon, but I will still take over the world.

"And what if it doesn't…?"

"One question for one question, feathered." Centauri interrupted. "Now, Bolt, answer me."

The dog looked up, quite ashamed of what he had found out. "I haven't told her in a long time," He admitted.

"Why not?" Centauri asked in an oddly docile tone.

"I… I don't know," He muttered, looking down.

"Maybe I can answer for you," Centauri continued. "You don't tell her because you think that with your actions is enough. You tell her pretty things, kiss her, cuddle with her, sleep together and all the other things, am I wrong?" The dog shook his head, totally confused by the sudden change in Centauri's attitude, who had his eyes turned melancholic. "Yes, and I don't doubt that she feels loved with your gestures of affection, but let me give you a personal advice: don't forget to repeat it to her, that you love her, from time to time."

" _Oh, no."_ Because of the tone Soul used, it was deductible that it was a long one coming.

"I was in love once," Centauri continued, ignoring the complaint from his old friend. "She was perfect, and had everything ; smart, funny, nice, strong, she had guts and was independent as well. I had the privilege of being her best friend for a long time, more than half of which I was in love with her. I cared for her, complimented her… but I never had the guts to tell her my feelings."

 _"Do they really have to hear your love disappointment with Choreftis?"_

"Shut up, Psyon! If you weren't so stupid…!"

 _"She was beautiful indeed, but I had other issues to focus in; I couldn't have dragged her into this."_

"That you couldn't, you say? You told everyone about it, even before the shadows! Want it or not, she was already involved, and you can't deny that you fell for her too!"

 _"I know, but there's no point on it now. I'm dead and I don't regret any decision I made."_

"Oh, you're such an idiot! You know what? Just let me talk, can you?"

 _"Serve yourself."_

Centauri spat on the floor and kept talking. "Like I said, for a long time I sought the courage to tell her _with words_ that I loved her, because with gestures no one could deny I did. Psyon eventually left for the forest and she took his place as my closest friend. I rehearsed one million times what would I say, but I was too slow. The day I had just planned to tell her was the day she came up with 'fantastic news,' and those were that she had just became Orion's –that idiot– girlfriend."

 _"So that's what happened…"_

"Yes, it did," He said bitterly. "Little later I met a shadow and made the best decision of my life." After finishing that he recovered his typical look and searched into Bolt's eyes again. "So don't you waste any chance to tell her what you feel, with words. By the way, time is now and it will be the last time you tell her." The he crossed his arms, not looking away from Bolt.

The shepherd had no problem in guessing what Centauri was waiting for, so he looked back at Mittens. "I love you," He said with all the affection the circumstances allowed.

"And I love you," She answered immediately.

"Okay," Centauri looked at Helang. "What else, feathered?"

"What will you do if you can't handle all of that dark energy?" The hawk asked.

"I have unlimited options. I can make an army of shadows, corrupt animals, people, governments, anything." Helang kept his gaze on Centauri, asking for details. "Specifications? Fine, but my price just went up."

"What are you talking about?" Byte asked, afraid of the answer.

"From now on, I will give you information in exchange for energy. Dark energy, needless to say."

"And where are we going to get dark energy from?" Rhino asked. He was the only one not being held by four shadows, but just one, that had locked him in between its hands.

Centauri looked at the hamster, pretending to be thoughtful. "Yeah, where…? Oh, of course. Negative energy can be extracted from living beings through suffering."

"You're not planning to…"

"No, cat, I'm _going_ to do it." He moved away from the group a couple steps and turned around brusquely. "Bolt!" He yowled, scaring more than one. "You and your kitten are responsible for the greatest loss of dark energy and the biggest obstacle on my way, so I'll grant you the honor of choosing. None of you is going to get out of here alive, but there are some things you'll do before you die. Suffer is one of them, and you get to choose. Who will suffer first? You know your options, buddy. Your cat, or your person."

Bolt stared at Centauri steadily, but scared, fearing what the man would do to any of them. "I won't wait forever, dog," The man said before turning his back on him. Feeling an impulse that he couldn't suppress. He subtly noticed that all the shadows that weren't holding one of the team were considerably away from them. Using just about enough strength, with adrenaline running through his veins, he managed to break free one of his paws, and punch the shadows holding it before it had even realized what was going on. He then quickly hit the other one, releasing hos other forepaw. The ones holding his hind paws let go when he tried to bite near them.

Free now, and with the irrepressible impulse to protect them both burning in his guts, Bolt lunged at Centauri stealthily. However, just before he collided with the man, something knocked him down and pinned him to the ground. He could hardly breathe due to the weight, let alone identify his oppressor. She, however, moved her head to give him a clean look at her face.

"Kia?!" Bolt exclaimed, unable to stop himself.

"Shut up, Bolt," She said with a totally cold tone, with no emotion attached to it.

"Ah, I see you met Kia again." Centauri turned around again, mock in his expression. "What do you think of the version two point zero of the vixen?"

"What?" The anguished question didn't came from Bolt's mouth, but Beta's, who felt more than ever that she shouldn't have let her there to die.

"After the explosion you kindly caused on my property, both she and he were almost killed. Fortunately, I was able to heal their wounds, physical and emotions… and reprogram their minds on the process. You see, Kia no longer wants you for mate, Bolt, no when you almost assassinated her. But the one thing that I couldn't change was her hatred for the stupid cat."

"What… are you talking about?" The dog asked, half out of breath due to Kia using her weight to keep him down. "I never… never did that."

"Maybe. Maybe not." Centauri shrugged. "Good luck convincing _her_ of that. Her mind belongs to me now, and she does nothing but obey me."

"Aren't you listening, Kia?"

"Shut up, Bolt," She repeated in the same tone.

"Thanks for stopping him, little one. Now, give him back to his handlers, please." Centauri requested, pointing to another group of shadows, bigger and stronger, that had taken the place of the previous ones.

Kia threw Bolt to the new shadows, which grabbed him, and moved to Centauri's right side. The Pitbull appeared shortly after and stood on his other side.

"Now, stay." And both animals, like soldiers, sat down, their gazes fixed up front. "Well, Bolt, unfortunately your little maneuver chose for you. I decided, in your place, that Mittens will have the honors."

Centauri snapped his fingers and the group of shadows holding the black she-cat moved towards him and tossed her to the floor in front of the guy. Centauri looked at her as if she were prey, madness and shadow in his eyes. Mittens, seeing that, flinched in total horror. And Bolt noticed.

"Don't you _dare_ touch her!" He screamed as he struggled to get free again, failing this time.

Centauri looked at him. "You know what? You're getting in my nerves. Your impertinence did this, not me." Dark energy appeared in his hands, and he lifted the cat from the ground, immobile, until she was at his height. He then smiled cynically. "Watch me." He challenged before lifting a single finger and placing it on the cat's head. "Funniest is that she's the one to pay for your stupidity." He added before closing his fist and hitting her hard in the stomach out of the blue. The cat moaned in pain and closed her eyes with a painful expression.

"Mittens!" Bolt shrieked. "Leave her alone!"

Centauri shook his head and closed his eyes gently. "Tch, tch, tch, tch. No, Bolt you're not understanding." He then punched her again. "You talk, I punch. Got it, bro?"

Kia made a slight gesture and cleared her throat. "Sir, with all due respect, I'd like to kill the cat myself." She asked coldly as ice.

"I told you, girl, she's yours. But I want to have fun with her a little. And you," He added to the Pitbull "get to kill Bolt like you wanted, but have patience, because he will be the last one. And I'll kill the girl next."

"I will not let you kill anyone!" Bolt yowled again, squirming to get free, blood pulsing in his ears and anger all over him.

Centauri looked at Bolt sternly, and said nothing as he clenched his fist again and gave Mittens two blows in her stomach. The cat was losing strength, and wouldn't last too long like that. Bolt began to growl as the man walked towards him calmly.

"You know? I can sense that anger flowing. Pity that it's not a dark pillar, or a 'gray pillar'; unfortunately for you, you don't know how to use anger or hate." He said, smiling. Bolt barked aggressively at him, trying to get close enough to land a bite, but he was barely gaining terrain when the shadows electrocuted him. Centauri then gave him a couple taps on the cheek. "Don't worry, your turn will come. For now, enjoy seeing your cat suffer."

The shepherd recovered when Centauri was already heading back to her. He wasn't thinking clearly… or maybe not even at all.

"You're sick, there's no trace of sanity in you! That's why she left you for the other guy!" He howled in fury.

Centauri froze. The energy coming from his hands changed to a total black. "Bolt, you undoubtedly can stab a heart." He said in a scaring, low neutral tone. "But… you didn't use a weapon. Bring him to me!" The shadows obeyed and placed him before Centauri. "Now, dear Bolt, I'll make you watch as I beat your mate to death. And, just because you called me sick… I'll take her eye out before I kill her. Just with my hand."

As the shadows made Bolt look at the scene, Centauri began beating her up, punching her everywhere and using energy to keep her floating in front of him. It wasn't long before she began bleeding. Nobody from the team was looking, nobody had moved since Bolt insulted Centauri that last time. The dog was burning in fury, but biting his tongue not to say anything else as to not make it worse.

 _Soul if you're doing something, it better be now!_ He thought. Whenever he tried to look away, the shadows would force his head back into looking, and kept his eyes open. The cat had markings already, and her half-closed eyes said that she was about to fall unconscious. He concluded that it was his fault, like Centauri had said, but couldn't think of any way to change the things now. After thinking a little more, he felt his urge to attack again, but much stronger.

Feeling something weird, he screamed just before Centauri punched her again, "Leave her alone already!"

The guy stopped mid-attack and stood.

"Bolt, I was just about to finish with her, and almost considered not taking her eye away, but man, you really want it the hard way, huh? Now, for my final act!" Bolt realized that no one, not even the shadows besides him, were talking. Just Centauri and him. "My triple combo special. Courtesy of Bolt. Enjoy it, cat."

By the tone he used, it was clear for the dog that no matter what, after those three final blows Centauri was planning to take an eye out of her face, and then let Kia kill her. _This man's crazy,_ He thought worried. _Come on, Soul, what are you waiting for?_

* * *

 **Hi there... Yep I'm late again; so sorry, there has been a lot of things going on right now. I can't assure you I will be punctual during these upcoming weeks, but I'll keep on trying as hard as I can. I know I didn't upload last week; now that explanation is on my profile if you wanna go check it. Anyway, my special thanks to Basbon, ShadowScare and TheMattdude for their reviews and encouragement, and I'll see you (hopefully) next week on Friday. Nos vemos luego!  
**


	58. Battle, part one

Chapter 58: Battle, part 1

Centauri walked to Mittens particularly slowly this time. He seemed to be enjoying every second agony he felt in all the members of the team. Being at the appropriate distance, he pulled his arm back, closed his fist and gave the cat another blow; however this time he let go of his psychic grip, letting Mittens fall down to the floor some meters away from him. Bolt was trying to think of _anything_ , but he was in total and utter disadvantage. The man walked to the cat and lifted her again. This time he took a couple steps back before aiming the blow and trotted towards her before actually giving the attack. This made the black she-cat fall further away from him, barely conscious. The group of shadows that were holding Bolt were following Centauri's steps, making the shepherd look at the scene.

Centauri lifted her once more.

"Third time's the charm," He muttered in a low tone. He moved away from the car, even more than the previous time, and closed his fist, making this time a layer of something that looked like dark fire around it.

 _Gotta be kidding me!_ The dog thought, feeling more helpless than ever.

"I could've hit you with this," He said as he showed the flaming fist. "from the very beginning, but your little mouse friend does understand the importance of a final act." He smiled an turned to Bolt. "Pay attention, dog. Your cat is about to lose her energy, then an eye and then her life."

He didn't need to hear it again. From the first of those three punches he had felt all the pain as if he were the one being hit. He couldn't picture himself surviving those violet attacks, let alone what would come after them.

Centauri closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, enjoying the moment. He stared at Mittens and then started trotting towards her again, as he raised his fist, ready for the last of the blows.

" _Everyone focus on Centauri's fist, now! I need one last bit to jump!"_

Without making sense out of Soul's words, Bolt payed attention to the closed, flaming hand. _What for, if…?_

His thought were interrupted as Centauri's fist, merely a couple inches from Mittens' face, had been stopped mid-air.

"What the hell?!"

Slowly, a bright, yellow light began to appear around the fist, extinguishing the dark fire, until it took on the shape of a hand. Someone had stopped the attack.

"That's impossible!" The guy shrieked, clearly intimidated by it. "Nobody can do that!"

" _I am nobody."_

Just like the hand, the rest of the body began to appear. Arm, elbow, shoulder, chest. The head was the last of it. It was Soul.

His first gesture was to smile; then, he pushed Centauri's fist back with strength, forcing him to retreat. Next he extended a hand to Bolt, who was quickly released by the shadows as they were thrown away. The shepherd ran to his mate, that Soul was placing carefully on the floor while Centauri was speechless from impression.

Before the shadows could react, Soul swung his arm around, throwing away any shadow that was holding of someone of the group. Then he called to them with a gesture to come closer. As soon as they were all gathered around, the body of the cat began to shine, heling her wounds, though she kept her eyes closed and her fur was still a little matted with blood. Soul was about to speak when someone began to applaud. Centauri.

"Not bad, idiot," He conceded with a confident tone. "But you're missing something: Maybe you can fight, but they can't. Look around, you are outnumbered, and none can use their skills here. Bet you forgot that defense ties, defense wins. Though I'll give you bonus points for your entry."

"You're the one forgetting something. To look at the hour."

Centauri looked at his wrist, which had no physical watch. Even so, the guy turned his gaze to Sou. "So what, eleven forty five?" He said.

"Shadows won't survive noon," Soul reminded him.

"Oh, man, what an idiot!" Centauri shouted. "Wait, no, the idiot is you, because we're inside! The ceiling is enough to prevent the solar zenith from being deadly, moron! Guess your plan won't work. Oh, boo."

Bolt observed the place. If Soul really managed to break the glass things would be even. But fifteen minutes could be too much time to wait for.

"You know, you have a pretty good time, Psyon." Centauri smiled. "It's been a little over three years. Why don't we compare progress? I," He boasted. "am the head of the greatest dark organization of these times. I have hundreds of subordinates at my command, allies you can't imagine and a potential dragon waiting to wake up. I have almost unlimited power, resources and a thousand physical and mental abilities. And you, huh?"

Before speaking, Soul looked over his shoulder. He frowned at the shadows slowly approaching them from behind. He quickly threw some light at the floor, which grew around him, circling them all in a light that stopped the shadows from coming any closer. "Me? I am nobody." He smiled as the other man spitted on the ground again. "I lived in the forest a lot of time, raised three beautiful children that became my students; forged friendships and saved lives, and gave mine to save someone else's. I assembled a team of fourteen clean and fantastic beings who are all here, even though they had a chance to turn back. My mind is free and my body is temporal. Look at me, I'm energy!"

"Yes, I did notice. Even so, things are far from even," Centauri continued, still confident. You have fifteen counting yourself. I have 2,100 shadows present, of different capacities and status. You are _outnumbered._ What are you going to do?" He asked mockingly.

"Talk to them," Soul answered calmly. "That's the difference. You have soldiers, I have friends. They obey you because they have no choice; instead, I ask for their help and they give it to me. If I offered your shadows a better salary, better working conditions and hours, most of them would leave you, because it's a job for them. Now, you try offer something to my team and see what they say."

Centauri growled. "Screw it. I have something that…"

"Belongs to me, yes I know." Soul interrupted. "I'd like to have it back, please."

The dark man began to laugh. "'Please'? Really? Well, I don't think so." He raised a hand and placed it behind his back. The he showed the staff, with its red crystals and dark purple tone. "I think this has my name everywhere."

"That was always your problem," Soul sighed. "You want everything for yourself." Before Centauri added he turned to Penny and asked. "Will you help me get my stuff back, Lioness?"

"It will be my pleasure," The girl answered him, taking a step forward.

"You can try, fools. It's been corrupted and…"

He didn't finish, for both of them stretched out their hands and called to the staff, which the object responded immediately, landing on the now temporal hands of Soul. "Oh, sorry, I didn't listen. What were you saying?"

"That's impossible! Its appearance, its energy!"

"I know, right?" Soul agreed. "It's great! Turns out that Lioness programmed for it to follow your lead until its legitimate owner came back. It was never under your command, only playing along." That being said, Soul shook the staff a little, making it recover its original colors.

Centauri was clearly growing out of his patience. "Alright! I don't need the stupid staff to get out of this! You still have an enormous disadvantage on you! The energy transformers won't let them use any energy!"

"We have a pillar of light," Soul declared, turning to see Bolt, who was taking care of Mittens, licking her few remaining wounds; Rhino was near them, not helping, but still focused on it. Perhaps attempting to make a healing sphere. The dog raised his head to meet Soul's gaze. Contrary to Centauri's, his was warm and confident.

"But, Soul, we don't know who the pillar is." Bolt reminded him.

"That's it, Bolt. It is not 'who', but…"

Unbridled laughter interrupted him. Centauri's, of course. He even bent over to keep from falling. "You gotta be _kidding!_ I was worried about a full-trained pillar, and you don't even know who it is! That's the most stupid thing I've heard!" After that the shadows began to laugh as well, most of them relieved not to be facing a threat.

It took the dark guy some good minutes to finally calm down and recover his seriousness. "What a fool," He said with the last traces of chuckle. "Although, now that I think about it, none of them complies with _all_ the specifications for a pillar, so yeah, I really wonder what are you planning there, friend."

"I didn't plan anything," Soul responded calmly. "And yet, I did. Thanks to your words, I think now they know that the pillar is _between them three."_

"Of course!" Rhino wailed with amazement. "You always said that the pillar was between us three, not that one of us was the pillar!"

"Wait a sec… yes, you did." Bolt said. "You said it was among us three. You were telling us all along."

"We are the pillar," Mittens finished, looking at both her friends.

The team opened their eyes by that revelation, excepting Kass and Peep. The cat was not easily surprised, but this time he apparently had his gaze fixed on some shadows standing between Centauri and the dragon.

"Well done, guys," Soul congratulated them. "So it is. The pillar decided it would fit best among you three, since you are so united. You three complement each other.

Centauri's face evolved into fury. "It _still_ doesn't matter! You are all doomed! You will not survive this, and I will conquer the world, one way or another…!"

While he kept screaming, Soul leaned towards Penny. "Time, Lioness?"

"Is that important?" The girl asked, confused by the sudden and out-of-topic question.

"Too much." Soul confirmed.

The girl checked the time, still somewhat confused. "Eleven fifty-seven… eight."

"Thanks." Soul raised his voice again. "Okay, Centauri, stop your chatter! I'll give you one more chance to give up."

"Ha! No one cares about your stupid mercy!" He snapped. "You are saying it as if you had a chance."

"Fine. If you don't want to…" Soul turned to shadows "Any shadow that doesn't want to die today, only has to ask for it, sincerely. After this fight you will be free and sovereign, and won't have to obey anyone. In return, however, you will have to accept natural negative energy; no more manipulating people or animals. You have two chances. One is now" No shadow moved. "The second, then, will be in the battle. My friend won't kill you if you ask sincerely to be back to the balance path."

"Why the announcement? You are hoping that we will fight, when this will be a massacre. Without their skills, your friends will not last." Centauri said in a threatening.

Soul turned to Kass and nodded slightly, gesture that the animal responded. Then, in between the shadows, he spotted Umbra, Bud and James, the three of them standing out of the light and nodded again. Finally, he looked up. In the ceiling, outside, near the edge a white spectrum was there. He gestured to it, and it answered too.

"Okay. Quick question, Centauri. What time is it?"

"Does it matter? You wanna keep track of when they die?"

"No, I'm reminding you," He smiled mischievously. "That your army won't survive noon. Lioness?"

"Eleven fifty-nine," The girl announced.

"I think you're not understanding, Psyon. Despite your efforts, I won. You can do nothing, you never could; it is unavoidable and _he_ knows it. Your team will fail, and I'll keep their heads as trophies that I'll polish every day to keep clean and neat."

"Thirty seconds." Penny said.

"So why are you worried? I can feel it from here."

"I'm not!" Centauti yowled defensively. "The one that should be worried is you!"

"Twenty seconds."

"Centauri, this is not necessary. Last time, friend. Leave it, redeem yourself, friend. We don't have to fight."

"NO!" He shouted, fear noticeable this time too. "I must obey, or he will kill me!" His voice began to tremble. "It will make me suffer! You think you know what's going on, Psyon?! Oh, you haven't got a clue!"

"Ten seconds, Soul."

"Who ordered you? What are you meant to do? What's all that about?"

"Enough talk! Shadows, kill them all!"

"Now, Soul!"

The yellow spectrum wasted no time. "Lux!"

The team payed close attention to the next seconds, since they had been pretty much forced to trust Soul and his "plan"; this command said that he had one. And it happened very fast.

Lux used all of its power to fire energy. The skylight in the ceiling began to break at contact with a big, thick, white shot that ripped it all the way through, letting sunlight hit directly into the battlefield. Many shadows under the light part of the ceiling were erased instantly. About twenty percent survived, those who had never set foot under the skylight and some that managed to take cover in time. Before Centauri could give the next order, another cry from Soul interrupted him.

"Kass, your turn!"

The cat jumped ahead of the rest of the team and used his roar sound wave; but he concentrated the attack, to the point where it was visible as a thin wave. Then the launched two more. The three went off in apparently random directions until three shadows intercepted them with their bodies. Umbra, James and Bud. Under Centauri's look of disbelief, they began to shoot the energy converters, destroying the last advantage for the dark army.

"No!" Centauri yowled once he could. "What are you doing, idiots?"

"This, boss," James said, emphasizing 'boss' with sarcasm. "is a coup d'Etat. We accept Psyon's offer, and will fight by his side." He declared as he destroyed the last of the convertors within his reach; then he moved out of the others shadows' way, without getting into the light.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Centauri kept repeating with equal parts of anger and fear. He finally sensed the forbidden minute was over. "Twelve with one! Now, kill them all!"

"Are you with me?" Soul asked the team, ignoring the bustle of shadows approaching with haste.

"'Till the end," Penny assured him. The animals nodded in agreement.

"So," Soul smiled. "Let's go plee for a while, shall we?"

"Of course."

The team leader looked at the shadows coming at them. "Charge!" He shouted from the top of his lungs, unleashing a wave of barks, yowls and screeches from all of his companions.

The team charged against the shadows. Lux jumped down from the ceiling and joined, as did Umbra and the two younger ones. Both forces collided into a violent battle, their leaders drawn back from the battle front, searching for each other. Centauri, distracted as he was, tripped over the Pitbull.

"The hell are you doing there, idiot!" He complained, before noticing Kia sitting in the same way. "Right…" He mumbled, feeling dumb. "You two, attack!" He ordered.

"Yes, sir!" They answered getting up, both at the same time. After that they jumped into the turmoil of the battle.

The guy got up, somewhat embarrassed and turned his attention to the battle.

"Centauri!" He heard behind him.

"Well, hello, Psyon," He answered. "Some good shit you made here, huh?"

"Anything for an old friend."

Centauri grimaced and spat. "You may have your team; you may have your deserters; you may have your stupid staff. But I still have my ring, and years of martial arts training in jujitsu, karate, kung fu–"

"Blah, blah, blah, I get it, you excersice."

"And that's not all of it," A darker, lower voice that clearly wasn't Centauri's came out of his mouth.

Soul looked at him, understanding where all of the dark energy that was always in his hands came from. "You let a shadow in. That does explain a lot."

"Shut up," He spat with his normal voice. "It doesn't matter what I did. I trained three years for this moment, and I have it under control."

"I don't have to train," Soul said. "I have access to the archives, where I can learn all of your martial, arts and more," He closed his eyes for a moment and opened back again. "in seconds. As we always told you, mind, defeats body." Soul left his staff floating in the air and adopted a kung fu combat position. "Wanna dance?"

Centauri smiled darkly. "Don't scream when I step on your feet." He said before running at him.

The dark man charged at the soul, but stopped dead just when the latter was about to give a defensive punch, giving the first time to grab his opponent by the arm and try and throw him. However, Soul took advantage of Centauri's strength and turned the table, throwing the shadow leader with enough force for him to fly a few meters. The moment he tried to get up, Soul used his push to throw him down again.

"This is just getting started," Centauri growled as he stood back up slowly.

Meanwhile, Bolt and Mittens were fighting side by side, taking care of each other from any shadow that tried to approach them. At one point, because he was distracted watching the battle, Bolt got grabbed by the neck by none less than a light destroyer. The dog became desperate because of the rapidity of the event, with which he lost access to his part of the pillar; when the cat saw that scene, she tried to scratch the shadow, which took her from her attacking paw and began to bend it slowly, with intention to break it, while it tightened the grip of the dog, cutting off his breathing. The shadow continued a few seconds before being struck in the stomach by a large luminous sphere. As soon as he recovered his breath, Bolt looked in the direction of the shadow to observe none other than Rhino making an heroic pose over its body.

"Super Rhino to the rescue!" He screamed euphorically.

"What in the world was that, rodent?" Mittens asked, just seconds before Bolt.

"It's great, don't you agree? Mega gave me the idea, to get inside it and run like it was my ball." He explained briefly. "At first I didn't get it, but I did nonetheless and it worked! And I saw you and thought I would try its actual power!"

"Great, buddy." Bolt told him.

"Hmm, not bad, rodent."

"Thanks. Shall we get back at it?"

"Sure."

"Guys," Someone called. "You're needed."

The three turned to see. It was Mega, and he had four shadows behind him, all of them sitting still. Somewhat confused by that, they walked towards the wolf. Just before they reached him, they saw Peep ran in front of them, hard on the tail of a shadow, with Alpha an Flor following him.

"What is it, Mega?" The dog asked.

"These four want to be free," He informed them. "And only the pillar can do that."

The three of them exchanged glances. "Sure," Bolt said, not sure of what they were going to do. "We'll… handle it."

"Cover our backs, Mega." Rhino said before joining the others.

"Bolt, do you know how to clean them?" Mittens asked. Bolt shook his head. "So… what are we doing then?"

"The last time we only had to touch James and Bud at the same time," The shepherd recalled.

"Well I think…"

"Traitors!" The yowl interrupted Rhino. Not just of any shadow, but the elite shadow that had taken Bolt's memories. "You are a shame for darkness!"

The shadow had just finished when Mega took it down with a shot, and pinned it to the ground.

"Take a number, boy," He growled. "They're taking turns."

"As I was saying," The hamster continued. "I believe that Bolt, never mind for how much, has more pillar than Mittens and I. So I suggest that we touch you, and you touch the shadows."

The dog and the cat looked at each other. "It won't hurt to try," Bolt said as he shrugged.

The cat placed one of her paws on Bolt's. Moments later, Rhino placed his on top of Mittens'. The shepherd raised his other front paw and pointed its pads at the shadows.

"Come close, one by one, please." He requested.

"Will it hurt?" A smaller shadow asked. Probably newly created or incomplete.

The dog looked at his friends, and both shrugged. "Honestly, we don't know. It won't last long if it does."

The shadow showed expressionless at the information it received. A second went by and it nodded, coming closer.

"What should I do?"

"Let me touch your chest."

The shadow closed its eyes and floated a little closer, until it made contact with the dog's paw. Then both the place where he was touching the shadow and the place where all three paws were together started to shine brightly. The shadow suddenly flinched as if it had been hit and opened its eyes with a sigh of relief.

"It… it feels… Oh, I never thought I could feel like this!" It exclaimed, just before shooting up and hitting another shadow, one that was aiming for Bolt apparently. "Thanks!" It added from that height before jumping into the glare of the battle.

The three friends looked at each other, pride and excitement in their three sets of eyes.

"Okay, who's next?" The dog asked with a smile.

The process was fast enough, so in a few minutes they were done with the four original shadows. However, their cleaning job was far from over. Several other shadows had noticed the events going on, and they had made a line, waiting to be freed, most of them young. Mega, Byte and Helang were given the task of protecting both the pillar and the awaiting shadows from the rest of them.

"Bolt!"

Kass' warning made him turn just in time to see the shadow that had took his memories dangerously close; apparently it was up for another beating like the one Mega had given it. Careful not to move abruptly because of his friends and the awaiting shadows, he dodged the shadow and punched using the paw that he had been using to clean shadows. Charged with energy to clean another shadow, the paw made contact and made the elite shadow scream in pain and back away, and leaving a mark on the place.

The specter growled aggressively as it touched its wound and scanned it for a few seconds. It turned to the dog, who had already got away from his friends and the other shadows and was staring at it.

"Scared, Bolt?" It grunted.

"Absolutelty–Not." Now, in the middle of the battle, the dog felt calm and focused, despite everything happening around him.

"So, what, dog? Second round?"

"Be my guest." The dog took a step forward.

The shadow smiled. "Fine by me. But who will take care of your little kitten?"

The dog did turn to see her. She no longer looked shy, scared or worried, only determination glowed in her green eyes and she nodded to him. Bolt smiled, and when he turned around he saw the Pitbull making its way through the shadows and hit the one who had challenged Bolt.

"Out of my way!" He roared. "I'll take care of this piece of scum!"

The aggressor placed into a combat position. Bolt did the same, and he could sense his excitement. This dog had resented him since their first encounter in the alley. But Bolt realized something else: he didn't know that dog. Their encounters had been merely aggressive, but the rest of his story, his parents, how he ever ended in that alley, nothing at all. That made him hesitate, while the Pitbull seemed too eager to attack.

His voice, darkened by the presence of the shadow in his mind, brought him back to the present. "What are you waiting for, puppy? You scared?"

The dog shook his head, but he couldn't help to think that it wasn't him. Not totally anyway. Poor dog must've suffered to end in the darkness. Some kindness must still live inside him, right? Surely there would be some behind that dirty, scarred coat and his face of antipathy?

Doubting his own actions, Bolt left his combat position and sat down. "I won't attack you. It's not the way."

"I'm so proud of you, boy!" He heard from within the battle. He turned and saw Soul, trying to subdue Centauri to the floor. "Well done!" He added before the dark man turned on himself, dragging Soul to the floor, where they continued fighting.

"Then you'll cower like you always did, huh?"

"It's not cowardice, it's intelligence." Helang snapped as he flew by with a shadow clinging from his legs and two more chasing him.

"Get out of my way!" The elite shadow bellowed as it got in the way. " _I'll_ tear the dog to pieces!"

"The boss said from the beginning that _I_ got to kill him!" The Pitbull snarled back.

The two of them kept arguing among themselves a few seconds before getting ready to attack… each other. Both of them wanted the chance to fight Bolt and none were willing to give up that honor.

"Idiots!" Kia's voice growled from behind them. "Attack him at once, he can't fight both back."

The two looked at the vixen as she arrived, with a chilling calm. She seemed not to have noticed Mittens besides Bolt, but she made it clear she had when she sat down and added, "And let me kill the cat in peace."

The dark dog and the imposing shadow looked at each other for a few seconds. Their expression showed that none of them had even thought of that tiny possibility. After all, both of them had a fight pending with him; what better than doing it in a way that Bolt was sure to lose?

"Very well," The shadow conceded at last. "Let's do it."

Mittens took a few steps forward and stood beside Bolt and looked at both of them. "Then I'll participate too," She said determined.

That sentence didn't escape Kia's attention, who stood up and looked at the cat with utter hatred.

"Two can play that, you filthy cat!"

A silence of a few seconds worried Bolt, he was thinking that Rhino would come forward and pick a side too. But when he glanced over to where the little guy had been, there was nobody there. Fearing that the numerical disadvantage could be a problem, he made one last attempt.

"Leave. This doesn't have to be."

"Wrong words!" The Pitbull yowled as he leaped towards Bolt.

* * *

 **Hey! I made in time! Yep, battle will be splitted into "parts", heh. Sorry for the inconveniences. Anyway, my speciak thanks as always to Basbon, ShadowScare and TheMattdude for their reviews and support. Guys, we're hittinh the end of it! Nos vemos luego!**


	59. Battle, part two

Chapter 59: Battle, part 2

Bolt tensed his muscles and prepared to fight the dark dog. Half a second later Kia jumped too, but towards Mittens. The shadow stood by, though it began moving towards him too. Perhaps wanting its teammate to do the dirty work for it. But the battle never came.

Quick as lighting a hairy ball rammed the Pitbull on one side, stopping him from hitting Bolt. In the same way, another one knocked Kia down before she managed to collide with Mittens. When they went still, the shepherd distinguished Beta and Delta respectively.

Both dark animals had no trouble in showing their anger.

"Stupid dog, my affairs are with the cat only!"

"Well, I'm sorry, 'sweetheart'," Delta mocked. "But you'll have to fight me first."

A similar conversation took place with Beta and the Pitbull, changing 'stupid dog' for 'useless waste of space', and 'sweetheart' for 'handsome'. However, after realizing the siblings wouldn't move, they leaped at them instead.

"We'll take care of these two," Beta panted as she struggled with the Pitbull. "You have more important things to attend."

"I'll make you take those words back!" The Pitbull growled before trying to bite Beta in her forepaw, which she barely dodged.

Bolt couldn't help wonder if they should help the siblings. After all, they both were fighting animals that ended up in the darkness because of him, directly or indirectly.

A very hard slap, enough to throw him away, brought him back to reality. The elite shadow was in front of him, with triumph in its look. Half stunned by the blow, the shepherd stood up into combat position.

"Second round, dog," It said, placing a hand behind its back. It didn't surprise Bolt that the shadow would conceal something, and he knew better than ramming at it.

Studying the way the shadow moved, Bolt made some mental calculations to foresee the best moment. When it was just a couple feet away the dog jumped on it; but the shadow was just as quick, and it took out the hand on its back to immobilize Bolt.

"Huh," It whispered mockingly. "The little puppy cannot move? Oh, poor puppy…" Is raised its other hand and began to charge it with electricity. "Does it look familiar to you?"

"Too much," Bolt growled just before smiling. "But you're missing something this time."

The shadow had only a couple seconds to look at him in confusion, before receiving a claw into its side, making it release Bolt, who landed next to Mittens.

"Thanks,"

"Pleasure, wags," She replied with a smile. Any thought that she would be a burden to him was history.

Bolt only turned to the shadow when it began to scream in terror. A few drops of black liquid spilled into the floor from the spectrum's side, and it was horrifying it.

"Ygró, ygró!" It howled.

The cries were heard throughout the place. Upon hearing them, the other shadows stood still, motivating the team to do the same. All the shadows began to murmur among themselves.

"The hell does that mean?" Rhino asked, landing in front of his two friends; apparently he had been flying on Helang.

"It means 'liquid'," Penny told them while she eyes the shadows murmuring.

"How do you know that?" The rodent asked again.

Penny didn't get the chance to answer. Soul's body came directly at them and made them get out of the way. He landed nearby and started to get up. The shadows were still talking among themselves.

"Ygró is a special occasion that happens irregularly." Soul explained when he finished getting up with the help of his staff. Once on his feet, he threw an energy push at his opponent, who flew off. "During ygró, specters acquire the ability to 'bleed', making it easier to defeat them. Not sure why or how happens, but those are its effects. If it's happening now, it means the shadows will bleed under your fangs and claws, bleed energy, and they will faint or die faster.

There was no immediate response. However, a laugh, very common on that day, sounded, accompanied by coughing.

"That means… I can disappear you." Centauri mumbled as he got up slowly. "And then I'll have won."

Centauri quickly pulled a knife from his sleeve and threw it at Soul. The glowing man used his staff to immobilize the knife in the air. Two more followed, and he stopped them just the same.

"Careful, Soul!" Penny called at him as he dropped the knives to the floor.

The warning came too late. Centauri was no more than two feet from him, and he rammed into Soul, throwing both to the ground. Then he stabbed Soul on his side with another knife, moments before the team leader threw him back using his legs. Like with the shadow, small golden droplets began to fall from the wound.

"Damn…" Soul muttered while holding it with a hand. "He stared at it for a few seconds before having an idea. "Oh, I know! I need…!"

"And who told you all to stop?" Centauri asked the shadows in a mad tone. "Whatever the circumstances, you are still more than they are. Now kill them!" He ordered before Soul shot him with his staff.

Following the orders, the battle revived–excepting the one of Beta and the Pitbull, as well as Delta and Kia. Those hadn't stopped in the first place.

"Byte!" Soul called from where he was. "I need healing."

The wolf appeared from the turmoil, Mega and Helang covering her back and keeping at bay some shadows that were trying to catch up with her.

"What's the…? Oh." She kept silent and studied the wound. "Okay…"

She went silent once more, but this time, after a few seconds Mega stepped forward. "Okay, so you're hoping to…? Oh."

"Uh, guys," Soul intervened. "I'm glad that you're getting better at telepathy, but I wouldn't mind to know what are you talking about in your little heads."

"Okay, we're mixing our healing abilities," Byte explained. "Though mine is stronger than his, it will help to heal faster."

Soul nodded. The she-wolf placed one of her front paws slightly apart from the others, and let her brother place one of his on top of it. The twins lifted their free paw and used it to touch Soul's wound, that began to glow and close steadily.

"Psyon!" Centauri's voice bellowed behind his back.

Soul turned around and caught him running furiously towards him. He had a pair of knives with dark blades in his hands, considerably longer than the other ones he had used.

Soul turned gently towards his kids. "I don't want to press you, guys, but I have one Centauri in T minus ten, nine…"

"We're almost done," Byte growled as Soul kept counting down.

"Four, three, two, screw it! I'll manage!" He told them as he turned sharply and used his staff to stop both knives from a vertical slash Centauri had launched. The wound was almost closed, but it still leaked a little. Soul held his ground for a few seconds before surprising his opponent with a blow into his stomach. When Centauri bent to hold the spot, Soul kneed him in the head, throwing him to the ground.

The dark man remained motionless for a few seconds; just when Soul was about to give his attention to his teammates, he jumped back to his feet.

"Alright, I'm sick of you!"

Centauri tensed his whole body and began focusing his strength, making his arms and legs tremble. After a few seconds, he began to show up what for. Every single place where he had deformities had its skin teared, revealing spikes underneath. Elbows, wrists, shoulders, ankles and knees; they all seemed as if they were fractured and the bone had pierced the flesh, but it was no bone. These were barbs, of a spectral violet only found in specters, that clearly was emanating energy.

"From now on," The shadow spoke through Centauri. "Your opponent counts as two."

Soul kept looking, heartbroken, what Centauri was doing to himself just to win.

"What have you done, buddy?" He asked, breathless.

"None of your business," He snorted as the spikes finished growing. "Now, play time."

Out of the blue, he leaped on Soul. He used his staff to block the sharp spikes from his opponent's wrists; they were misshaped and irregular, but they seemed sharp nonetheless. However, before counting what his old friend was planning, Soul felt a flash of pain in his stomach, realizing his opponent had kneed him while he was distracted. Ne nulled the pain, but Centauri began to repeat the process again and again, stabbing him with the spikes from his knees over and over, and pushing Soul into jeopardy by holding tightly of his staff and not letting him take it. The small holes in his body began to drip energy, pressing the dead to think quickly.

When the idea flashed, Soul took it. He moved slightly to one side, making Centauri miss his next stab, then let go of the staff with one hand and grabbed him from behind his raised knee, from where he pulled brusquely. Centauri lost his balance for a moment, which Soul took and used to hit his head with the staff and then sweep his feet to make him fall. Once on the floor, he placed the staff firmly against his chest.

"Drain." He ordered.

The crystals became orange flashes, the one closest shinning the most, while the dark spikes lost progressively some of their glow as the staff drained the energy. The shadow leader noticed and tried to push the staff away, but Soul was determined to drain most of it before letting go. He had had too much energy drained, and he wouldn't be able to win. Or so it seemed like.

"But I'm not alone." He spat to Soul.

Instantly, Soul was hit from behind, throwing him over his opponent's head. When he, from the floor, turned to his aggressor, he found out, with a pang of horror, pity and disappointment, that it had been Centauri. Standing, the dark warrior was tensing again, making more spikes emerge from his skin, along his entire spine this time, but that wasn't all. At the end of it, just where his butt would begin, a tail had grown, long enough to cover half the distance from there to the floor. Then something worse happened. His clothing got ragged at the height of his ribs and two strong, dark extra arms slammed out of his skin, tearing skin and flesh.

His final looks were disturbing. He didn't even seem human anymore; more like an urban legend or myth. Spikes in ankles, knees, elbows, shoulders, spine and wrists; a tail with more spikes; two arms, below his'… and all of it shinning in a violet, dark tone. The image was enhanced by the blood of his own body, that still poured from the places where these deformities had pierced through his skin. It was obvious that all of it belonged to the shadow; not to Centauri.

"Now who do you think will win?"

"Whoever is meant to," Soul replied. "And thanks, James," He added mockingly. "For giving me the time to heal my wounds."

Sure enough, Soul had holes nowhere. Not even the initial wound. Centauri's mutation had taken long enough for Byte to lend her master her healing services. Even so, the spectrum wasn't as shiny as at the beginning. His energy was decreasing, and his opponent seemed to be gaining strength instead of losing it.

Centauri jumped at Soul while he was still thinking. The master had to resort to his staff to interpose between him and his aggressor, but the dark leader placed him against the floor. Soul let go of his staff and scratched Centauri's back. Despite not being an animal, the man had taken shape based on hoe he looked when he died, and at that time he still had his claw-sharp, long nails. He kept clawing at his opponent until he backed up and touched his back.

"You're a fucking animal," He snorted when he saw he was bleeding from the marks. "But we both can play that."

Centauri raised his dark arms, and Soul realized that those had claws, ad not improvised like his, but totally and rightful claws, belonging to a kind of shadow he had never seen before. When Centauri leaped again, Soul was ready, and aimed to his stomach with his cane. The shadow leader intercepted it with two arms, while he tried to snatch it away with the other two. After struggling a little, one of his natural arms took away Soul's staff and threw it away as he began to rake his claws all across Soul's body.

Soul tried to make a defense, but it didn't work. The few scratches and hit he made weren't enough to counter the flurry of claws and powerful blows Centauri was giving with both sets of arms. The attacks were so frequent that his only move was to back more and more. The wounds multiplied on his temporal body and his energy was being bled out. It wasn't long before he couldn't even stay standing and fell to the ground, to his knees. His body, which had flashed like a lightbulb at the beginning of it, was turning opaque. Centauri smiled as he kicked Soul's face, throwing him to the ground.

Silence reigned in the place for a few seconds. Not a surprise that everyone had stopped their fights to see the main one anyway. No need to say the team's morals fell as they saw their leader down, with small yellow puddles growing around his temporal body as it began to flash intermittently, each time with less strength. He barely moved. Centauri was a few meters away from him, smiling triumphantly as he looked around. Even the Pitbull and Kia had stopped fighting to pay attention to the scene.

"It was a warning!" Centauri called to the team. "Leave, join or die!"

There was no noise. Thirteen pairs of eyes were growing with despair. What could they do without their leader? Surely not join him, but what?

Some footsteps called everyone's attention. Penny appeared from the crowd and walked towards Soul. She knelt next to him and began to whisper.

"Come on, big baby man, you have to get up. You won't give up, I know it. You can't leave, we need you."

The girl kept talking with Soul's unmoving body, not caring about Centauri's look or anything else; she wasn't even sure what she was doing, but she knew that if Soul left they would surely lose.

She suddenly felt fur on her sides. Mega and Byte. The wolves had sat next to her, and Helang was on his other side.

"Come on, master, get up!"

"Now, now, now!"

"Come on… come on, dad!" Helang wailed, surprising more than one.

Taking it as an order, the rest of the team began to gather around the yellow perishing body that had almost stopped shining. They all started to encourage him, some of them not convinced it would work, as Centauri enjoyed his moment.

"What do you hope to achieve? You think by saying pretty things he'll rise up and keep fighting? Not happening; you lost him, that's all, it's the end, over, whatever, goodbye."

The group ignored him and kept going.

"Okay, I'm tired of it…"

"Idea!" Mega yowled above Centauri's threat. However before he could speak Umbra and Lux reached for the body.

They both growled something in Morse and looked expectantly at Kass, but it was Penny who translated it.

"We have to touch him, but all of us and for yesterday."

Not understanding the instructions clearly –or why Penny knew Morse–, the team began to touch Soul's body, with paws of noses, until only Penny was missing. The girl closed her eyes tight and touched Soul's hand with hers, hoping that the specters knew what they were doing. Both of them floated over each side of the leader, at the height of his chest and extended a hand. Lux did the same. Then, a gray and shiny sphere began to form in between their palms and continued to grow until both of them abruptly inserted the orb in Soul's body. Having finished their thing, they left without saying more.

Everyone looked expectantly at the yellow body, moving away from him and keeping alert. A set of coughs confirmed that their shadow and light combination had been useful, and no one did anything until a weak and humorous voice moaned, "Apparently you won't let me rest in peace… until I finish what I started." Soul began moving and managed to get up. "Thank you… for your energy… I'll… put a good use to it."

It hadn't been a minute since then when Centauri rammed at him, filled with fury. The shadow leader attempted to stab him again with his dark spike. Soul, quickly, used an energy push to throw Centauri away. Unfortunately, that did cost him almost all the energy he had left, and he fell back to his knees. The dark leader jumped to his feet again and began to walk slowly towards his former comrade.

"It's over, Psyon. I win."

"Not yet, silly. Not… while I'm here."

The dark man stood in front of him and chuckled before kicking his face again. Lying on the ground, Soul was quick to notice something that would even the odds again."

"Hey,Cent," He said. "What's the difference between you and me?"

"That I don't make stupid questions when I'm about to die… again." He retorted sharply as he walked towards Soul once more.

"Heh, no, buddy. The difference… is that one of us is an idiot with no future. The other one is me."

Soul stretched his hand and called to his staff. He grabbed it moments before Centauri leaped on him again; nimbly, he rolled on the ground and shot at him with the wooden instrument before Centauri could react.

"Give me." He ordered the crystals. They did, and Soul's temporary body began to shine more brightly until it was a shiny as at the beginning. The energy he had drained from Centauri had served him well. The soul jumped to his feet and called to his team with a gesture.

"Let's finish this, guys. Reduce his forces while I deal with Centauri."

"He's dangerous, he almost killed you once," Penny reminded him.

"True, lioness, but this time I won't be facing him alone." Soul looked at Centauri and raised his voice into another war cry. "Come on!"

The battles resumed the way they had been. Kia and the Pitbull went straight for Delta and Beta; Bolt went after the elite shadow, followed closely by Mittens; Rhino kept to his own, and stood his ground to any hostiles; Flor and Alpha kept following around the lead of the little half-bred they had a crush on; Kass and Jonathan stood tail to tail, covering themselves from any angle and knocking out any shadow in seconds. Mega, Byte and Helang fought in perfect harmony, probably due to their synchronizing skill. Penny stood by, near Soul in case he needed help again, and pushed of any shadow daring come near her.

Their leader was moving much faster and nimbler than the first time. When Centauri tried to punch and claw like the previous time, Soul jumped over him, landing behind his back, which he swiftly hit with his staff, before sweeping his feet again and stepping hardly on his tail. After shrieking in pain, the dark man got up, showing the spikes on his knees and ankles damaged, which was a winning point for Soul. However Centauri just got angrier. With his energy pull he forced Soul towards him and punched him on the face, before feeling a blow on his side. When Soul tried to use his staff to hit the other side, Centauri stopped him with his tail, snatched the staff and threw it away. Then he raked with his claws into Soul's abdomen eagerly and pushed him to the ground.

"you cannot beat me," Centauri growled. "There's two of us."

"And who said I was one?" Soul responded cunningly while holding the area, just before placing his other hand on his mouth and whistling with enough strength to alert someone on the other side of that chaos.

Before Centauri could figure out what it was all about, he received a punch in one side. Then another one, on his forearm and another one in his chest. Finally, not even letting him catch his breath, he felt a flurry of claws to his dark arms and one into his face, dangerously close to his right eye. Then the thing disappeared for a moment, leaving Centauri and going to Soul. When it stood still, a small, strong, keen peregrine falcon became distinguishable, healing the wounds of his master and father, and giving him his weapon back.

"Thanks, Helang."

"Don't mention it, Master."

Soul stood back up when his student was done. "What where you babbling, Centauri?"

He snorted in response and began to run towards Soul. He tilted his head and the hawk took flight; then Soul ran to his opponent too. When they were close, Helang swooped from above and tried to claw Centauri on the chest. He covered himself with one dark arm, but the hawk's claws dug deeply into it, and dark droplets began to drip out of the marks. Without having time to look at the wound, Centauri fell to the ground. Soul had, once more, swept his legs using the staff to hit them both at once.

Centauri jumped back up, not fast enough to avoid a hit into his stomach with one of the staff's ends. Then Soul turned and kicked his ribs. With his tail, Centauri managed to catch Soul's leg, and began pulling from it, in an attempt to make him trip over. The struggle lasted a few seconds before he succeeded. But Helang landed on him with his claws raking at his tail this time, distracting him long enough for Soul to get up. Master and student began to attack in combination and sequence, making it almost impossible for Centauri to defend himself.

"This time, I'm finishing it for good. I'm sorry it has to be like this, friend," Soul said in the middle of the attacks.

Mega and Byte were doing well as well; their synchrony was good and nothing went past them. There came this time when the wolf pinned a shadow to the ground. The specter, unlike most of the others, showed terrified and unwilling to fight. It wasn't until Mega took a closer look that he realized which shadow it was.

"You!"

The shadow didn't answer. Why would it? It had nothing to say, and the wolf was clearly angry because it had set them up. However, two younger ones tackled Mega from one side, Shade and Alex. Once they had freed their mentor, the three shadows fled in the same direction. The wolf began to growl, his fur turning orange-red.

"Wait," His sister interrupted. "They're not worth it."

Mega looked at her, and then back at the shadows. He realized they were fleeing for good. They crept out the broken skylight and disappeared into the world.

"Whatever," He muttered, turning his attention back to the battle. The number of hostiles had dropped dramatically, but they were still fighting. A curious movement caught his eye. It was Peep.

The little dog wasn't strong in the strict sense of the word, but he knew how to move, and he hit weak points mostly. Alpha and Flor had his back with every shadow he took on. At the moment he was finishing of a hunter shadow, when a bunch more emerged from the ground and grabbed both girls from their legs, turning them belly-up. Another one slapped Peep out of the way, away from them, and stood nearby as it unsheathed its claws. From the way they were holding the girls, Peep could only deduce that the shadow pretended to slice them, literally, in two halves.

Peep felt a rush of adrenaline. With a speed he hadn't used since the last time someone had bothered any of them, he ran towards the shadows holding his friends. One by one fell, unable to stop the little storm of fury. No more than a minute, and the only one remaining was the one with claws out.

"Well, look at this. A little knight, rescuing his princesses."

"Get away from them!" The dog growled.

"Make me."

Before Peep could, the shadow vanished into the air. He walked towards the girls, and froze when he saw the specter reappearing behind Alpha, claws high, intentions obvious. The little guy ran at full and jumped between the girl and the shadow.

"No!"

"Peep!" Both Alpha and flor wailed as they saw him take the blow in their place. They saw him fall to the floor and remain still. They also saw him rise while the shadow laughed and lunge at it, to bite with vicious fangs over and over, until the shadow, bleeding mildly, fled in fear.

The half-bred turned around and they both gasped. A huge mark was running halfway down his face, where four lines of blood were beginning to appear, and it wasn't the worst of it. The eye, it had been severely damaged, and it was visible even through his closed eyelid, which was injured too. Both ran to him, and Alpha began to lick his wound.

"I'm so sorry, Peep," Alpha sobbed while she cleaned the wound. "It was all my fault, all my fault."

"Ours," Flor said. "We shouldn't have been so easy to grab."

Both of them waited for him to answer, lowering their heads in shame. But they received an affectionate lick on their foreheads instead.

"Girls," Peep said calmly. "It wasn't your fault. I would give… me's life for you… for any of them. This's nothing, okay? I'm fine."

"O-Okay."

"Good," He told them. "Let's keep going… more shadows to delete."

As he turned around to look for another shadow, it became noticeable that he didn't care for his new wound.

The elite shadow had managed to immobilize Bolt in the air, and was holding Mittens from both of her paws. It had a triumphant gleam in its eyes, that grew a little when they stopped trying to free themselves. Mockingly, it asked, "What are you doing? Giving up?"

"We're not doing anything," Bolt told it. " _He_ is."

A luminous ball containing Rhino smashed into the shadow's chest, forcing it to let go of them both.

"Thanks, buddy."

"You're welcome," the hamster replied, walking back to them two.

"This is not over," The shadow growled a few meters away from them. "I'm still here."

"Not for long," Another voice stepped in just before a flash of orange fur leaped at the specter, landing on its back and revealing Kass' face just before he bit down hard on the shadow's neck.

The elite shadow howled in pain as dark energy began to spill out from the bite. The cat then bit again and again until the shadow fell down and stayed there. The last bite was longer, perhaps a minute long, before he retrieved his fangs. By then, the specter no longer moved. Kass turned to the trio of friends, his muzzle covered in dark liquid, as well as neck and part of his chest; around the shadow's body more of it was spilling.

The orange cat licked his muzzle clean before addressing them with a "Sorry you had to see that."

"Uh, no problem," Rhino answered, his eyes wide; and he was the only one to do so. "I-I guess it doesn't matter.

The cat dipped his head and then jumped on another shadow that was passing by, intending to do the same on it.

Bolt looked around. There were few shadows on Centauri's side remaining. While analyzing the panorama, he noticed Kia and the Pitbull, both still fighting against Delta and Beta, but the siblings were now pinned to the floor, their opponents on top. Not wasting time, Bolt rushed to them. The other two pieces of the pillar followed, and didn't ask questions.

"Hey!" He shouted at the Pitbull when he was close enough. "You wanted me, then come get me!"

The dark dog looked up. Pinpointing Bolt, he stepped off Beta right away; she had claw and bite marks everywhere, and though the Pitbull did too, she and her brother were already exhausted. It had been a hard battle, and it wasn't over. Before the Pitbull did anything, Mittens stepped nearby and called to Kia, who left Delta alone at the moment's notice.

Both dark animals moved until they were face to face with the couple of lovers.

"Duck!" A voice screeched before they could even speak to each other.

The four of them obeyed, moments before Centauri's body flew by, just above their heads.

"Sorry!" Soul called after them again. He ran towards their position. "Don't fight each other." He almost ordered.

Kia and the Pitbull growled at him in response, though they said nothing.

"Why not?" Bolt asked.

"You're about to face something worse," Soul explained. "Gotta save your energy."

"But they won't leave us just because we tell them to," Mittens reasoned.

"That's where I come in." Soul faced the other two, looking at the Pitbull first.

"Give me a reason not to bite you right now," the dog snarled at him.

Soul ignored the threat, he was analyzing him. "You seem… familiar. I believe you once heard that 'it doesn't matter whatever you do, as long as you place your heart on it.'"

The dark dog opened his eyes, astonished and bewildered.

"W-What? H-How would you k-know that?"

"Your father and my father. I think they knew each other."

The Pitbull's gaze turned onto something he alone could see, fixed into infinity.

"My father… if that were true… yours would be that nice man they always talked about?"

"I guess. He said your mother was due to give birth, but something went wrong. The puppies were dying before being born, but you were the smallest. The only one he could save."

The dog froze. His eyes widened and his breathing stopped for a moment or two. "Yes… that was the story." The dog backed up from combat position and bowed his head to Soul. "I'm in eternal debt to your father, sir. I cannot pay him anymore, but I'll pay you instead," He managed to say before wincing and closing his eyes in pain.

"Easy, boy. Centauri still controls part of your mind and there's still a shadow in it; none of them will let you go so easily." Soul extended his arm towards him. "Let me touch your head, and the pain will end, okay?"

The dog nodded slightly with his eyes still closed and his expression of pain. Soul touched his head for several seconds, until the dog had relaxed his expression and took a breath. A sharp, almost unperceivable scream made it clear that the shadow in his mind was dead.

"Thanks," The Pitbull gasped as Soul retrieved his hand.

"You're welcome."

Soul turned to Kia. The vixen was clearly terrified, and turned to try and escape. However Soul just had to point his staff towards her and she got pulled to where he was.

"Let go!" She shouted, trying to move. "Get away from me; I've got nothing for you! No more kindness or whatever you're after!"

Soul chuckled. "I highly doubt it. Bolt still has faith in you."

"I don't give a-" She interrupted herself. "About whatever Bolt thinks!"

"Okay then, I'll do this. I'll free your mind and then you can go do whatever you want."

She wasn't listening, she was twisting and squirming, trying to find a way to get away. "Boss! Someone!"

"Kia," Soul sighed. "Listen up. I know that you're no longer expecting anything from anyone, because that way you won't be disappointed. But it is a little extreme to want to stay away from everyone who inspires hope."

"How do you know about that?"

"I think my father was more popular than I thought. Went by the name of Genesis."

Kia gasped. "Are you a son of Genesis?"

Soul nodded. "And you're the daughter of…"

"I don't know," She admitted. "No one ever took care of me. That's why I learned to stand alone and never expect anything from anyone. Hope only leads to disappointment."

"Not always, Kia." Soul released her and touched her head. "Only nonsense, like hoping for money to rain, or to reverse time, will disappoint you for sure. There's a world of hope you can nurture, and that translates into satisfaction when you achieve it. If not, you will have your friends to support you, help you overcome those disappointments. We live on that."

The vixen opened her eyes with a new look, the same she had given Bolt when they met.

"You are free, congratulations." Soul told them. "Go and live your lives."

Neither of them moved. They looked at Soul, and then at his team –or the part close to them. Then the exchanged a glance and looked back at him.

"No." They said at the same time. "We want to help."

Kass, who had arrived shortly after the show began, snorted. Jonathan shook his head in disapproval. Some of the others did nothing, but Soul seemed happy to hear those words.

"Very well, you might as well start helping those you have injured."

They looked at each other in confusion. The Pitbull reacted first.

"The dogs!" He exclaimed before racing towards Beta. Kia followed, but towards Delta.

Soul watched them go and then turned to his team. "Very well, we should…"

A screech of fury interrupted him just before Centauri crashed into him, knocking Soul down. However, he used his strength against his opponent and turned it around, landing on top of Centauri at the end.

"I'll handle him!" He ordered to the rest as they rolled on the ground.

Centauri began to claw Soul, and he did the same. They went on for a few seconds before the shadow leader threw him away using his legs. Soul fell down, but jumped back to his feet and called to his staff right in time to hit Centauri into his ribs, following with a kick into his stomach, making Centauri hold the places with his natural arms, but he still had the dark ones and he used them to create a dark orb that he threw at Soul. Soul countered with fire from one crystal, and the combination caused a big explosion of smoke.

As the smoke dispersed, Centauri walked to a dead shadow on the floor. He bent down and placed one of his dark hands on its 'blood' and began to absorb the dark liquid. He finished in seconds and then looked back at his opponent.

"Surprise!" Soul yowled from his side before hitting him with strength.

Centauri fell far away. He got up after a few seconds and looked at Soul with hatred.

"This… is over…" He gasped between breaths as he raised his fist and aimed it at Soul; his finger the ring was sitting, and its gem began to glow intensely.

"I couldn't agree more, man." Soul retorted as he pointed the staff to Centauri, and its crystals began to glow, too.

Soul looked confident; he turned to his friends and winked with that same confidence. However, in return he received looks full of terror. By the time Soul looked back again, three knives were dangerously close to his temporary body. He deflected them with his staff, but received Centauri's shot squarely as soon as he did.

Soul landed badly, away from his staff and with almost no energy left. Centauri walked slowly towards him, pointing the ring at his face. Once he was close, he halted.

"Now," He started with pride. "I'll erase you. Then I'll kill them all, and once that's fixed I will have a lot of time to correct what you've done."

Soul gestured to Penny, and the girl began to move slowly. Analyzing the field, he counted thirty shadows, eight wounded at least. Centauri's voice distracted him from his studying.

"Any last words?"

* * *

 **I know, I know, I'm sorry. Last week was insane, and this I barely got the time to finish it. I'm moving, so it's all been packing and that stuff for these weeks. I'm not even done yet, and the moving is tomorrow. Also, I have exams coming up, so yeah, pretty shaky right now. Don't worry, I'm not stoppping, and I'll keep trying to upload weekly, but chances are I may fail once or twice more before finishing the story. My special thanks, of course, to Basbon and ShadowScare for their reviews and their patience. One more part of the battle, and you're about to see, I guess, another plot twist? perhaps. Anyway, sorry again, see you next week hopefully y nos vemos luego**


	60. Battle, part three

Chapter 60: Battle, part 3

Soul saw Penny in position and nodded subtly to her.

"Yes; why did the chicken cross the street?"

"What?" Centauri asked, wincing in confusion.

"Penny, now!"

Penny threw the staff to Soul, and he drew it to himself. Centauri reacted by the time the wooden weapon was pointing at him.

"Sorry, friend," He said quickly before firing.

A small orange beam was shot from the staff and hit Centauri. It was slightly thinner than the previous ones, but it was equally dangerous; the yowl of pain confirmed it, as well as the hole that remained on the shadow boss' chest and the way he was thrown into the air.

"And… it was to get to the other side." Soul completed as he staggered to his feet.

The team walked to their leader. Everyone had injuries, but they all were alright. Even Peep, with his hurt eye, looked happy.

"Was that it?" Bolt asked, perhaps a little afraid of the answer.

Soul removed his smile and turned to see Centauri lying down. He was still moving only in spasms, but there was something more.

"No. Your part is about to begin."

A high-pitched roar pierced the air. Behind the body of Centauri, nearby the dragon statue, a terrifying shadow was standing. Physical, not spectral; it had legs, and they were muscular; four arms, two of which were partially injured, and two other that were considerably smaller; spikes on wrists, elbows, shoulders, knees and ankles, having those last two damaged, as well as some more along its spine; a large and powerful tail, which end had more spikes and leaning on the ground; at least two rows of sharp, large teeth, black and misshapen laying within an elongated, drooling predator-like snout; three large eyes, each with one smaller one above and below, and those on the sides having another one covering from their free side; no nose, no ears, totally in violet and dark tonalities; approximate height of four meters and it looked _very_ angry.

"Behold, the _true_ leader of this shadows!" It howled in a deep and terrifying voice, before roaring like nothing more than a monster. "Behold, the _pillar of darkness!_ "

"Like I said… your turn." Soul immediately said.

"And, how exactly are we facing that?"

"Together, but I have no energy left. I can only help you tactically for this, you will have to do the physical part. But I have something important to do first." Soul began to walk towards the body of his friend.

Curiously, the shadow didn't attack him, as if it agreed to what he was doing. Or perhaps it knew that the man meant no threat at all. Instead, it turned towards the animals and roared again, before giving a massive step in their direction.

"Psst, Cent." Soul called.

To his surprise, Centauri did open his eyes, partially. They no longer shone in violet, but were brown instead.

"I'm glad… that after all… you came to talk."

"I wasn't leaving you on your last moments. Welcome back, old friend."

Centauri chuckled. "I'm leaving, man," He muttered, moving his hand a little pointing to the holes all over his body, most caused by his own greed. "But thank you… for freeing me. I'll see you… on the other side."

In spite of everything, some tears began to flow in Soul's eyes. It was _still_ easier to say, than to do.

"No," he whispered, his voice breaking down. "The council will judge your actions. You'll probably have to" –He broke off with a chuckle– "do some charity work before you're let to coexist with the rest of us."

"In that case… there's something you should know."

"Of course, you had to leave the valuable and important information for the last, right?" He scolded jokingly, smiling weakly.

Centauri nodded with the same playful smile, and for a moment it seemed as if nothing had changed and they were simple teenagers arguing about whatever nonsense they came up with. Unfortunately, the feeling didn't last, because Centauri began to cough and spit blood with it, reminding them that they had little time. "Cho-Choreftís… and… Orion," the former shadow leader muttered.

Soul widened his eyes. "Are they still…?"

Centauri nodded.

"South, in Mexico. But… there's more."

"Speak," The man urged.

"Psyon… it's just… just pieces. Everybody. Me, too, and… the big guy over there... it goes on, but… they still are. There's something… bigger… far bigger… y-your father knew…"

Soul couldn't make any sense of what his friend was saying.

"What are you talking about? Who? What's going on?"

"You… just made it… to his black list. You are all… a danger to his plans." Centauri spat more blood and began to close his eyes. "Care for them, Psyon… don't let him harm them… _Soul…_ don't…"

The sentence died away as Centauri left his eyes half-closed in utter silence.

"Cent. Centauri!" Soul screamed, but his old friend had stopped moving. He had left the physical world. His soul was in hands of the nature's council now.

Soul took a few seconds with his friends inert body, before realizing that he felt slightly stronger. Following one of Centauri's arm, he noticed that it ended on his knee. His friend had given him the last of his strength before dying.

"Thank you," Soul whispered before closing his friend's eyes with a hand. He would never open them again.

Soul closed his eyes for a few seconds. Among the whirlwind of emotions that seized him there was, somehow, peace, as well as a very slight satisfaction. In the end, he had redeemed his friend, even if it was just seconds before he died, and perhaps that would give him some points with the nature's council. He opened his temporary eyes again and looked the motionless body of his old friend. Among his wounds he caught a glimpse of damaged and incomplete nerves and a weakened general structure. He had let the shadow into his body –not only his mind–, almost fully, and that's why he hadn't survived when it left the body.

He decided that, after all, Centauri deserved a burial. So he took the body and placed it somewhere he could pick it up later. Then he returned his attention to the battle, with his sense of humor and sarcasm refreshed as well.

The shadow was not half as fast as Centauri, but it moved with agility, sometimes on four legs and sometimes on two. And it seemed a bit bigger than the first time he had seen it. He spotted Kia helping Delta dodge its attacks, like the Pitbull was doing with Beta. They _were_ redeeming themselves after all. Kass was laying on the floor, with a legs twisted in an awkward angle, which it was licking. Jonathan, Peep, Alpha and Flor were moving constantly, from different angles, while trying to land some attack in any way; however the shadow always dodged and countered, even without having them in sight, which gave the impression that it could perceive them like Centauri did. Mega and Byte were helping Bolt, who looked hurt, while the rest of the pillar waited at his side; meanwhile, Helang was landing near Kass with the only intention of healing his leg.

"Wow, this looks _way_ too bad." He muttered to himself, closing his eyes for a moment.

When he opened them again, Peep was flying in a collision course towards him. Nimbly, Soul raised his hands to catch the flying doggy and lowered him to the ground carefully.

"What was that, man? I didn't know you liked aviation."

"The shadow… it throwed me. I think he knows… doing… what you do." The little dog informed him, smiling slightly despite the situation.

Peep looked back at the shadow. His smile vanished and he began to growl when he noticed it was holding Alpha from her neck. Soul didn't get the time to tell him something before he had ran off towards it again.

Soul observed the battle once more. Shadows were no longer, clean or no they all had run off when they saw what was under their apparent leader. Omicron was busy healing those whom the dark pillar was injuring, while the newly healed returned to battle. He noticed two things. First was that Penny, Umbra and Lux were nowhere to be seen. Both specters had their own agenda, and they had "revived" him, so he guessed they could do whatever they wanted to. But regarding the girl…

The second one was that it was, crystal clear, that the team needed his help. He got to thinking as he watched the enormous shadow breath fire against his teammates. _I don't even know why he wanted to awake the dragon, if that thing is practically one,_ he thought as he started to search for Penny. He did find her, but not in an ideal way.

Umbra and Lux were holding her, one from each arm, as they floated towards the monster. It noticed and tried to bite any of them, but the specters dodged swiftly. Before it had another chance, Flor bit its leg and Kass, having his paw healed, left a scratch on its tail; both retreated quickly when it turned to them, giving the light and the shadow enough time to drop the girl on its back. She clung to the spikes that grew along its spine and started to move forward, careful not to hurt herself with the dark spikes, until she reached her objective.

When Penny reached her objective, Soul waited anxiously for her next move… but it never came. She just stood there. _He climbed all the way up there… with no plan?!_ But then he came up with one.

He started running towards the monstrosity. It was busy trying to shake Penny of its back while covering itself from multiple attacks that Helang, Jonathan and Peep were aiming at it that it didn't even pay attention to Soul. Once close enough, he aimed at it with his staff and shot a burst of light that landed on its chest. The dark pillar roared in pain as it looked at Soul. The yellow specter spun on the ground to avoid the pillar's crushing arms.

"Lioness!" He shouted as he jumped back to his feet and started running. The girl looked at him, started and questioning. "Catch!"

Then he threw her his staff.

The wooden object flew about a meter up into the air. Under normal conditions it would have fallen straight back to the floor, but Penny used her pull and called it to her hand. Soul smiled at her, closed his eyes and vanished into the air just before another of the pillar's arms crushed the floor where he had been standing.

"Soul!"

"Easy peasy," His voice called behind her. She found what looked like a small yellow whirlpool of air. "I'm still not leaving; not yet anyway. Whatever, tell them to drain." The soul instructed before the whirlpool started flowing somewhere else.

The girl blinked and stood for some seconds. Then she remembered how Soul had stolen energy from Centauri. Recalling quickly, she placed an end of the staff against the pillar's back.

"Drain!" She ordered, not entirely sure they would listen.

To her amazement, they did. The three orange crystals began to shine brightly and the effects were immediate. The beast began to move slower and weaker. Soul appeared where the whole team was healing their injured.

"Penny is weakening it, now or never!"

At Soul's order everyone jumped back into the battle, some limping or hurt someway, but all of them did. Everyone was needed to beat that thing. However Soul stood in the pillar's way before they went too far.

"Moment." He said, blocking their way, though he was only a yellow thing.

"What is it, Soul?" Rhino asked, clearly biting on his frustration.

"Hush. You need a positive emotion to use all its power," He said. "And yes, you will have some action, but not now."

There was a small pause. Despite remaining still all three of them had their full attention on the battle. Beta and Delta were already down, with too many wounds even to retreat. Alpha was to join them soon, as was Kia and the Pitbull. And even though the others were still doing fine, the dark pillar seemed to be winning, despite all the group efforts. It used its tail and multiple arms to keep them from coming too close and spat something different from its mouth every time, while shaking itself to stop the staff from making contact with its skin for too long.

"Pay attention to me!" Soul snapped, interrupting their thoughts on the gigantic shadow. "I'm trying to explain what's going on and none of you listen."

"It's not easy when our friends are getting beaten up by… that." Mittens alleged.

"And you are right, but you're not helping by staring at it. Want to be supportive? Listen." He made a silence of a few seconds. "For that thing to fall we need the pillar to land a full and elevated hit. Each of you has one third of the pillar…" He was explaining when a cry of pain interrupted.

Penny had fallen from the back of the monster and it had her from one arm. She had screamed when the shadow broke her arm to make her release the staff. The shadow clawed at her face a couple of times before throwing her away, like a piece of thrash.

Soul sensed the three of them lose their calm.

"Breathe, or you won't be of any help."

The three took a few seconds, but eventually calmed down a bit.

"Well," He went on. "A very potent blow, but it has to be _exactly_ at the same time. Cannot be one millisecond of difference. Since the dark thing won't let you come close, they are going to help you.

Soul stepped aside, making Helang, Kass and Jonathan visible. They all had wounds and missing fur/feathers, but their eyes shone with an indomitable spirit.

"Helang will get you close by air, Rhino. Mittens, you can ride Jonathan's back to get closer fast. Bolt, Kass will make a fine, quick and cunning distractor. You must hit from different angles; if any of your 'protectors' fall, do _not_ stop. Priority is to make contact. You give the final blow, we will be done here and it won't hurt anyone else. Understood?"

Everyone nodded, though the pillar not so sure, and they were not to be blamed. They didn't like the idea of leaving someone behind.

"No time to think about it," Soul said quickly. "You must move before it hurts anyone else. Go."

The three thirds of pillar nodded and each jumped into a different direction with their protectors. As expected, Rhino jumped on Helang's back and flew away; Mittens climbed on Jonathan's, who started running to the monster; Bolt was the one who let Kass on _his_ back. The cat thundered his bones as they moved towards the battle scene.

Being close enough they saw the giant shadow had already knocked out Alpha and Flor too; Peep not quite, but he wasn't leaving their side. Mega and Byte, in addition to their protectors and themselves, where the only ones standing between this thing and its freedom to do as it pleased. All the wounded were gathered far enough to be safe.

"Go, guys!" Soul encouraged before vanishing totally and disappearing.

While the six of them moved in to support the twins they saw the dark pillar spitting darkness against them. Mega and Byte were countering with fire and light respectively. However, despite their efforts, the darkness was winning the upper hand and the wolves found themselves in a distress situation.

Rhino was the first one to take action. From Helang's back he made a light sphere, bigger than himself, and threw it at the giant shadow. He couldn't help gasp, as did everyone else, when the thing simply raised its tail to intercept the attack. The white sphere crashed against the barbs at the tip of the shadow's tail and released its energy into the environment. Then it made a brusque movement with its, creating an air current that hindered Helang's advance, and made another one to try and take them down. Helang barely evaded. And all of it had happened without the monster even looking in their direction, or lowering its attack towards the wolves.

"We need another plan," Bolt thought aloud. "We can't just attack it like we are used to."

"Roger that. Any ideas?" The cat on his back answered, starting him a little.

"I do." A female voice called close to them. It was Penny, who had moved apart from all of the wounded.

"No. You're hurt." Bolt said authoritatively, surprising his person. "It already wounded you enough." He explained.

Penny took a second or two to register it, and nevertheless she kept walking to him, ignoring the comments from the other wounded. "Soul involved me in this, and he did so for a reason. I can still fight, and I intend to."

Bolt stood still for a moment. Would that be a good idea?

"Hey, wags, if you're not too busy we could use some help, y'know? Like right about now!"

The dog looked back into the fight. The dark pillar was trying to reach for Mittens and Jonathan with an arm. With its tail it kept preventing Helang to progress or Rhino to jump from him while with its mouth and other arms it kept the wolves under a flurry of attacks. He realized he had not the time to discuss it. With a grunt he made it clear that he was against it and then ran off to help. Penny followed for a couple meters before being stopped by an invisible barrier.

"Ah, ah, ah," Soul had surrounded her just like he had showed her mother he could.

"Come on, Soul!" She complained. "Let me out!"

"First, I promised your mother you would be fine, and you have now a broken arm." He pointed out, using a playfully criticism tone. "And second, where are you going… without this?"

Penny felt Soul's staff touch her arm gently and realized he wasn't stopping her, but encouraging her to go _prepared._

"But if something happens to you, your mom will kill me, so if it gets ugly, want it or not, I'll drag you out."

The girl nodded and the invisible barrier disappeared. She ran towards the confrontation, holding the staff with her good arm and keeping the other one as still as possible.

Things hadn't changed at all. The dark pillar was still preventing any of the pillars or protectors to get close enough, let alone all three at once. Some blow or bite here and there, but in overall they were not making progress.

Penny stopped far enough from the thing over there and pointed the staff the best she could with one arm. Not fully understanding its way of functioning, she asked it to shoot something. The object obeyed and shot a thick electric blast in the direction of the pillar, also causing Penny to lose control of it; she couldn't keep it under control with only one arm, and she realized as much, so she had to stop attacking after only a few seconds as to not to lose control of it completely. The shot, however, had hit an unaware target and her teammates were already taking advantage of the situation, since the pillar apparently had been stunned by the thunder blast.

"Now!" Helang shrieked, diving into the monstrosity. "Pillars, get ready!"

"Pillar One, in position!" Rhino announced, probably imitating a movie he had seen sometime. And indeed, the hawk was at the right height to drop the hamster into the enemy.

"Our turn!" Jonathan added, running towards the belly of the beast. "Mittens, claws loaded!"

"Ready!" The cat answered seconds later.

"Bolt, we're missing–!"

A piercing roar interrupted Kass. The pillar had come out of its daze and was moving again; Bolt, who had stopped to check on his person, wasn't close enough to make his part. While it kept roaring, he realized that and ran towards the monster with the orange cat still on his back.

"Come on, come on, come on, I'm almost there!" He said, motivating his companions to wait in position for him.

The dark pillar noticed the dog and cat running to it and aimed an arm to smash them into the ground. Bolt dodged nimbly, and within seconds he was already in position.

"Now!"

The cat detached himself from the dog and jumped away. Bolt jumped too, aiming his headbutt towards the side of the monster. Mittens leaped from the back of her protector and aimed her claws towards its belly. Rhino jumped from the hawk, intending to fall on the monster's back. The order, given by Soul, had been planned to make them hit at the same time in order to destroy the dark pillar once and for all. And it seemed to be working. Bolt landed his attack on the monster's side, and Rhino fell hard on its back at the very same time. It was Mittens the one who the pillar stopped, using one of its arms it delayed her long enough as to not reach her objective in time.

The monstrosity roared in pain as it received three impacts from the three thirds of the pillar; however being that one was displaced, it managed to survive them and keep standing. Not giving them chance to get away, it hit Bolt with its tail, Mittens with an arm and threw Rhino in the air with the thrust. Then it faced Jonathan and Kass; the dog managed an unsuspecting bite on it, but it only increased its fury. With enormous speed, the shadow headbutted the poor dog, throwing him several meters backwards and fall down. He tried to get up, more than once, but couldn't.

Kass was still there, and he ran and aimed to the monster's legs. Dodging its arms, he made it to his objective and began clawing furiously. The shadow screeched in pain and tried to reach for the cat, but he had placed himself strategically, where no arm could reach him. It took a few seconds, but the dark pillar lifted a leg and attempted to stomp on Kass. The cat had no choice but to flee, becoming vulnerable to the pillars arms. The monster lowered its head until it was at the height of the cat running away and shot electricity of its mouth, reaching its target before he could even look back. Singed and weakened, the orange feline fell to the ground.

Helang, seeing what had happened and with Rhino back on his back, nosedived to get Kass out of the way of the claws of the immense shadow. Barely making it, Helang held Kass in his paws, careful not to claw him, and took him to the other wounded. By the time he was flying back to the dark pillar, Byte was already too weakened and Mega was taking her over to the wounded.

An arm came out of nowhere and tried to snatch the hawk. In spite of its natural speed, the arm started to immobilize Helang, making it harder and harder for him to get away. At one point the bird was freed of the shadow's grip. Looking back, he noticed Rhino on the monster's hand, hitting its fingers and everything on his reach. Focused as he was, the rodent wasn't noticing another hand being placed on top of the one he was on, clearly intending to crush him.

"Careful!" Helang shouted, diving towards him.

By the time the hamster had turned around, Helang was already tackling him out of the way, taking his place. The falcon was crushed by the hands of the giant shadow. It smiled darkly and squeezed. A small glow in between its hands revealed that it was draining Helang from all of his energy. It didn't stop until it received a light shot into its face, which forced it to let go of its victim, who fell to the floor unable to move.

The pillar of light approached its feathered friend; Rhino in particular had guilt drawn all over his face.

"Not to worry," Helang smiled weakly. "It's okay… not my destiny to defeat that… it's yours."

That being said, the hawk closed his eyes, maintaining a weak but stable breathing.

Penny joined them around Helang. She was still carrying on with the staff, and one of its crystals was flashing. She had shot the shadow. Using her own ability, enhanced by the staff, she lifted the bird into the air.

"I'll take him with the others," She told her pets. Then her look darkened. "You're the only ones left, and according to Soul, that's how it should be. I'll play bait so you can land your hit. Just wait for me until I'm back.

Bolt was about to protest, but the girl turned around and walked away with Helang without giving him time to say anything, so he returned his attention to the enemy. It was shaking its head, affected by the flash of light that had hit its face. The dog had a hard time figuring what they three could do to defeat it, when the whole team hadn't been able to. He looked back at his friends; Peep and Mega were still in condition to fight, but asking them so would be suicide, he knew it. No, it would be settled between the pillar of light and the pillar of darkness.

Almost at the same time Penny left the hawk with the rest of them, the monster managed to recover. It looked at the three of them and smiled, showing its sharp and twisted teeth, and lowered its head to reach them.

"So this is the pillar of light?" It asked in a deep, somber voice. "Not very impressive, and yet you survived more than your friends. I have a proposal for you." It said, before quieting for some seconds that felt like hours. "Join me."

"Typical villain–" Rhino managed to say before Mittens covered his mouth with one of her paws.

"Why the proposal?" She asked, trying to get some information before having to face it again.

"Curious kitten. Although it looks like, I'm not almighty. There are shadows, other entities too, stronger than me. And I will have to face them once I start expanding my domains. You, as the human holding me said, were a really big nuisance during far too long. But unlike him I hate to waste potential, and you have tons of it. If you join me, you will have shadows under your command, you will be my war generals. I´ll give you everything you every wish for."

Bolt and Mittens exchanged a look, the latter still keeping Rhino shut. They had no intentions of accepting, but they had to buy time while they came up with a strategy.

"I have a better one," Penny's voice rang behind the dark pillars back. The shadow turned away from the three friends to face her. When it did, she kept going with "I do this," just before shooting the pillar in the face with the staff _again,_ blinding the shadow"And my three best friends delete you from existence!"

The three understood it was their call. Bolt took Mittens and Rhino on his back and began to run around the blinded shadow with haste.

"Ready!" Bolt commanded whilst shortening their distance quickly.

The dark pillar recovered from the flash of light once more and slapped Penny hard, throwing her to where Soul had left Centauri's body. It turned to meet its possible new followers only to find out that they were far too close now, jumping at it. Bolt had his jaw open and his fangs flashing with light; Mittens with claws extended and shinning in the same way; and Rhino was wrapped himself up in a luminous ball at least twice his size. And they were too close for it to do anything as it was bitten, scratched and tackled in the stomach.

The animal trio landed well, while the dark pillar began to thrash, screeching and roaring in pain and agony. After taking its time with the suffering, it fell down and stood still. The three of them looked at it for a few more seconds, making sure it wasn't getting up, before going to aid their friends.

"You… you made it," Mega breathed. "Wow, awesome. You even exceeded expectations."

"Expectations?" Rhino asked.

"Well, Master had calculated that you would need three or four hits like that to _actually_ kill it, so hooray!" The wolf explained.

"Three or four?" Mittens asked, feeling an unpleasant chill. "Then why one was…?"

The wolf shrugged. "You did it, didn't you? No we can figure how to go home."

"Nobody's going anywhere!" The dark pillar stated, standing up. It was bleeding in several places, especially around the area where the pillar had hit. It was not in any condition to fight, and yet still intimidating. "If I'm going down, I'm taking you all with me!" It yowled before piercing its own skin with a claw, placing it inside its belly, just to take out of itself what looked like nothing other than a bomb.

"Who the hell gave life to that shit and for what purpose was it?"

Mega's comment went ignored, while the immense shadow began to laugh, igniting the bomb. Ten seconds were in the timer originally, and one was down already.

" _Everybody with Bolt!"_ Soul urged them.

It was obvious they weren't going to. Almost everyone was in no condition to even stand up, let alone go to their companion. So Bolt ran towards them; he jumped to the middle of the huddled wounded and everyone grabbed him. Having to seconds left, the dog closed his eyes and hoped he could cope with everyone's weight.

A gigantic explosion destroyed all the field, the place, the corpses; structures, mechanisms and ideals that were under that roof died away with the blast, that drew a lot of attention of the surroundings and made nearby people panic.

In the garden of a house located at the outskirts of the chaotic city, a group of fifteen animals… and one girl lay scattered all over the green lawn. Slowly, the girl opened her eyes, slightly as if waking up from a nap. Then she remembered what had happened and bolted up. Her arm was still broken and she still had in her other hand a wooden staff, slightly taller than herself, with three orange crystals. Around her, most of the animals were already awake and talking to each other while they waited for something.

Penny checked the time. Twelve forty-five. The she saw in the distance the specters approaching. Umbra, Lux, but also James and Bud. She listened as they explained to Kass that they had gone put the young ones safe from the monster. Then she lay back down and stared at the clear sky. _What an adventure. I could even write a book about it,_ she thought was her eyes moved from one blue patch to the next one. She closed her eyes, intending to relax a little, and found herself falling asleep.

She got awakened by a desperate cry.

"Penny, Penny!" And it was Mittens' voice.

The girl opened her eyes and sat up again. "What's wrong, Mittens?"

"It's Bolt, he hasn't woken up!" She cried desperately.

"What?" The girl looked at the time. It was two o'clock.

"True," Byte intervened, lying nearby. "We have treated everyone and healed them as far as we can, but he has not woken up, and we're not even sure if he is alive."

" _He is."_ Soul's voice came in. _"He fought against many shadows, then a dark pillar and then teleported you all back here. He is just exhausted. Give him more time to rest, take him to his bed. He'll wake up when he's hungry or thirsty."_

Mittens looked calmer just by hearing that. When Penny went over to Bolt to carry him, a sharp pain reminded her of her broken arm.

"Let me," Mega offered. "I'll do it."

She smiled and let the wolf, with the help of Jonathan and Peep take Bolt inside.

"Hey, guys," Rhino called. "I have a little idea."

"And what is it, Rhino?" Helang asked.

The hamster smiled mischievously.

* * *

 **Surprise! It's me, I'm back! Well, not entirely, you know, but I managed to get this one done, and I'm hoping to get the next one in time, too. So yeah, now the battle is over and we can get to the calm part. You know, I'm super-turbo sorry this time, but now things seem to be calming down a little... we should be getting back to normal soon. And I'm not stopping, not this close to the end. Anyway, that's all I have to say right now, thanks a lot for having me patience, and I hope to see you next week. Nos vemos luego!  
**


	61. Peace and Tranquility

Chapter 61: Peace and tranquility

Bolt's P.O.V.

I moved all around the house, but there was nobody. I went upstairs, downstairs, inside every room, but it was all empty. Finally, somewhat upset, I went outside, calling my friends' names. My head started to ache; well, it had started since the moment I woke up, but now it was getting worse.

"Mittens! Rhino! Penny!"

I kept calling them as I walked to the barn; after all, it was everyone's favorite hiding spot since Mega and Byte had come around. I stopped dead when I remembered what had happened this very day. Hadn't we just come back from the combat with the shadows? Didn't I used a strength I didn't even know I had to bring us all back safely, even after facing that dark pillar?

"I'm dreaming," I stated aloud. Only that could explain why there was _nobody,_ and why my head hurt so much.

Knowing that nothing I was doing here would have a repercussion in the real world, I stopped looking and walked peacefully towards the tree. That tree was special; it had always been there. In every sunny day for us to have shade, every rainy afternoon to make a roof; and it was at the exact point in the garden where you could see almost the entire garden, as well as the entrance to the barn. A perfect guard post, huh?

I leaned back in its shadow and kept thinking for a while. Eventually, the pain in my head got worse and worse, leading me to assume I was closer to waking up. I looked around in case it wasn't that, and everything was still the same: the sun, shinning in the clear, cloudless sky; the barn and garden, not a trace of anybody I know. But something caught my attention. Almost at my height, there was a little hummingbird, flying around. I had never seen one; well, only once, when Rhino was watching a documentary, but never really. That confused me a lot.

The bird kept on fluttering quickly, looking for some flower on the tree. It moved to and fro before leaving the task, and it then started moving towards me, confusing me a little. It hovered in front of my face and then settled down on my nose. It kept singing down on it, while I watched it carefully, before simply disappearing. Started, I looked around, only to find that everything else was disappearing too. I guessed I was going to wake up, but that didn't quite calm my curiosity. Why only a hummingbird, when there was no one else? Why it came to me? Why a hummingbird, if I had never seen one? I didn't even know if I could find those around home. Those questions spun in my head until I heard a voice, a very familiar one.

"Bolt?" It was Mittens. I thought she sounded relieved.

I opened my eyes and found myself home. Mittens and Rhino were in front of my bed, looking at me expectantly. I tried to move, but a bolt of pain ran through all my body, stopping me from standing up.

"Easy, my friend. It was a tough fight, perhaps it'll take you a few more days before you can start moving freely again." Rhino told me. Wait, what he meant with 'a few more days'? How long had I been asleep?

Mittens must have seen my confusion face, since she started explaining.

"It's been two days, Bolt. You had a lot of wounds, but we knew you would recover." Then she blushed, like she had before we had become mates. "Th-Thanks for saving me."

"What are you talking about? Where's the team, how are they coping?"

The two exchanged a worried look, then Rhino spoke.

"Bolt, a dog came by a few days ago, Rottweiler seems to me; Mittens was in the garden, and he found her, and attacked her. You heard the noise and jumped into action, ready to defend her even though none of us really know how to fight. The dog left you severely injured, but you gave him a couple wounds to remember you, too. By the time Penny was back from school, we had already started to try and stop the bleeding… though you can't do much with just leaves, so she took you in a hurry to the vet. They only took of the bandages today because your wounds were all closed."

"What about Mega and Byte?" I asked, frantically, and both of them gave me back a confused look. "Helang? Soul? Flor, Alpha, Beta, Delta? Kass? Any of them?" Both of them shook their heads. "Don't you know who they are?"

Mittens came closer and muttered softly, "You did mention some of those names while asleep, usually while moving."

I was stunned. Was it all a dream? It couldn't! Which part was real, then, and which not?

"Mittens," I called, attracting the attention of both of them. "Do you have a mate?"

She blushed and looked away again. "No… why do you ask?"

"Uh… nothing," I forced myself to say. That had hurt enough; all those happy moments I had lived with her… were not real.

"What is it?" She asked, taking a step towards me with concerned eyes.

"Nothing. I was thinking about my dream."

"And what did you dream?" Rhino asked me. "You didn't stood still; we were almost considering waking you up for you to stay still."

"Sure, I'll tell you… but where's Penny now?" I'd just remembered; all the shock from knowing it had been a dream, I had almost forgot about her.

"At school," Rhino shrugged.

I nodded and got comfortable to tell them of the amazing dream I had had; they both placed all they attention on me, too much perhaps, but I paid no attention. Then I heard someone calling downstairs.

"Mom, where are the nails?" And it was Penny's voice.

I immediately turned my gaze to Rhino, eyebrow raised.

"Damnit," He muttered to himself. Then he looked at my. "Heh, wow, huh? S-She's back already? I-I didn't even heard the bus drop her today." He said with a nervous laugh.

"Rhino, what's going on here?" I asked standing up.

"Oh, look, you're recovering already! No doubt you're a superdog, whatever the others say…" He started backing up, ignoring my question.

I pressed with my look and kept moving to him. "What are you not telling me?"

"N-Nothing, no, nothing at all," He stammered as he kept retreating.

"He noticed, rodent, you better talk." Mittens said, and I placed the pieces together.

"You were trying to pull a prank on me!" I concluded. "You intended to make me believe none of it was real! Am I wrong, little liar?"

"I… I-I better go!"

Rhino ran out of the room, squealing.

I turned my eyes to Mittens. "Therefore, you _do_ have a mate."

She nodded, finishing calming my nerves. "And he's a hero," She added with a smile.

I walked to her and she laid her head on my chest. "What was _that_ all about?"

"Rodent's idea and he convinced everyone, so… well, you can't beat them, join them." I looked at her, amused. I have no idea how long would they have managed, but the idea itself seemed good. "Personally, I just wanted to know how long would it take you to notice by yourself. Or if you ever would." She added with a hint of amusement as well.

"Huh, so you think I can't tell between reality and not?" I asked playfully.

Mittens parted from me and stared with an eyebrow raised.

"May I remind you what was on your big head when you met me?"

"Oh, but that was…"

"What about when your memories were taken?"

"That doesn't…"

"And when you recovered them?"

"Ah, come on… Fine, I give up. But all those times had something in common."

"And what would that be, wags?" She asked, tilting her head.

I smiled. "That you were there to set me right. And just like you will never let me forget the stupid things I did on those occasions, I won't let you forget that it was thanks to you I got back. More than once."

She didn't answer; she sank her head back into my chest and began to purr. I stayed still for a while, feeling her presence, her fur. That was, until I remembered about the full-on confrontation we had had just that day."

"Mittens, what time is it?"

"It was almost three last time I checked." She replied softly, not taking her head off me.

"And how's the rest?"

That's when she backed a little and looked me in the eyes. I couldn't decipher her expression.

"Well… almost everyone is fine. "Penny did got a broken arm and her mom almost killed Soul when she found out, but she's got something on it now and its fine. Jonathan had a concussion on his head, but he's also looking better. And Peep… he lost an eye."

"What?" I remembered the wound, yes I did, but it didn't seem so… bad back then.

"Yes. The wound was not that serious, not even deep, but he insisted on _keeping_ it. He said he wanted a reminder."

"A reminder? Of what?"

Mittens shrugged. "I don't know. He lives and sees the world in his own way. Perhaps it will mean something to him."

"I guess… Should we go see them?"

"Oh, but we are in no rush, puppy," She said, walking towards me. She used that tone, the one I can't get, but makes me blush always.

"Uh… okay."

(-)

Bolt and Mittens went downstairs after a couple hours of more rest, and the dog went to see the team. As the cat had told him, everyone was fine. Everyone was recovering and the only visible marks of the fight were Penny's broken arm, now with a sling holding it, and the –now and forever on– closed eye on Peep's face. The scar went all the way across it, giving him a though guy look that didn't match his classic smile at all, but the little guy had already insisted on keeping it that way.

After catching up with everyone, Bolt set out to do something he knew he had to. Their faces were clear: there had not been too many welcomes to them from the rest. He walked to them from behind and said a soft and gentle "Hello."

Both of them moved their ears before turning around. A gray vixen did it before a Pitbull. Their expressions only confirmed that they hadn't been welcome by the team.

"Hi…" She said with a low head. The Pitbull repeated the same line seconds later.

After it, a long, uncomfortable silence came. Bolt felt bad for dragging them into it, especially after considering what he had lived with them both; that made him feel worse. After a few minutes he decided to face the Pitbull first. He locked onto his eyes and found much more than just plain aggressiveness. He found grief, regret and sadness.

"What will you do now?" Bolt asked, trying to use a neutral tone.

The dog sighed. "I don't need your pity," He said defensively, but with no determination, making it sound empty.

"It's not pity. I want… I want to know what you will do. I want you to be okay." The Pitbull's eyes widened with something new for Bolt: surprise.

"W-Why so interested, puppy?" He pressed.

"Soul said something," Bolt replied. "We are one, and we are together in this. If you come with us, if you join the team, many things would improve with your lives."

"What do you know about my life?" The Pitbull snapped, again, sounding hollow.

"Actually, nothing. But I know that if you come with us, if you join the team, you will find friends and support. We are a family."

Kia sighed and looked down.

"If I had a coin for every time I've heard that…"

"But this time it's a serious offer." A female voice promised behind Bolt. It was none other than Mittens.

"Mittens! What–?"

"Doesn't matter what you decide, wags, I will always support you. And if you intend on making them welcome among us, count me in."

The vixen lowered her gaze to the ground, unable to face the cat.

"Don't you care that I…?"

"Past is past, Kia," Mittens said, walking to her. She didn't look up, so the cat placed a paw on her shoulder. "If there's something this big guy taught me," she said, pointing to Bolt. "is that there's all kinds of people out there. One bad experience doesn't mean that all the others have to be the same. Besides, Centauri was manipulating you."

Kia looked up and forced a smile, but Bolt could tell she wasn't fine just{ yet.

"And as for you," Mittens continued, addressing the Pitbull. "We can give you a name, and integrate you. You don't have to go back to the alley." She walked back to Bolt. "Both of you will be accepted, eventually. Maybe Mega and Byte will take their time, they are stubborn, but you will have three supporters minimum. And Beta and Delta will surely appreciate that you helped when they were injured."

"With injuries _we_ caused," The vixen wailed. "Maybe not. Maybe we should leave… for good."

"And where would you go?"

"Someplace to belong, Bolt."

The shepherd looked at his mate and gestured with his eyes for her to leave them alone. She nodded slightly and began to back away.

"Well, I told you what I had to; they're in your paws, Bolt." She said before leaving.

"I would like to speak with each of you separately, please."

Kia and the Pitbull exchanged a look. Then the vixen moved away from both of them.

"Don't even try your psychology on me, dog," The Pitbull said in a vain attempt of sounding aggressive.

"Where would you go if you don't stay with us?" Bolt asked, ignoring his warning.

"…I don't know." He admitted finally. "If you had asked me two or three days ago, the answer would have been back to get an alley and a reputation; but now…"

"And why not anymore?"

"Because I have nothing left. I lost my alley accepting the shadow; I lost the shadow accepting your friend's help… and I am in debt with him, but I think the best I can do is leave, not be a hinder for him. I am dangerous."

"I don't think you're…"

"Well, I am!" He snapped, turning to face the shepherd. For a moment his pupils were fully dilated and he showed Bolt his fangs before his eyes returned to normal. Then he closed his mouth with horror on his face and stumbled away from the white dog, lowering his head. "I… I can't control myself, Bolt," He sobbed, turning his back on him. "I can't, no matter how hard I try, I always give in to anger. I'm disgusting…"

Bolt walked besides him; he would have liked to hug him or place a paw on his shoulder, but all the physical contact they had ever had was for injuring the other, so…

"I know what you're thinking," The dog kept going, turning to face Bolt. His eyes were glazed. "You fear I'm a danger; everyone does. And they're right, the truth is I am."

"You are not a danger; but yes, it is a little weird coming to you with no intention of fighting, since that's how it has been since… we met."

"Well, that much you're right." The Pitbull answered with a slight smile before pushing Bolt playfully.

The shepherd smiled too, and answered the push, with a little more strength. The Pitbull did the same. So on and so on until the dog who had given the first one jumped onto the other and they started play-fighting. That one ended with the Pitbull pinning Bolt to the ground.

"I'm not so bad when you don't call for help´, huh?"

"You're right," Bolt agreed. "You're indeed very strong."

The Pitbull placed on a face the shepherd couldn't decipher and got off him.

"That's why I'm dangerous," He reasoned, head hanging and eyes watering again. "Bolt… can I tell you something?"

"Sure," The shepherd answered, getting up.

"I… I killed my father." The Pitbull blurted out after a minute of silence.

"What?"

"Look, don't take it wrong, but I just met you, on good terms. I know you're a good guy and whatever, but I'll just tell you enough for you to get it."

Bolt nodded in silence and kept his eyes on the dog in front of him.

"My mother… she had fallen ill. She was very weak. My father loved her madly, so he went restless trying to give her enough care and food. Heh, you can't do much of it when you live on the streets. He fell into despair, and eventually into anger, anger that he couldn't handle. He began scolding me, shouting at me for things, some of which had never happened or I had never done…" He took a deep breath.

Bolt tilted his head. "So…"

"I'm not done," He interrupted. "When… when she, well, died, he burst into fury. He yelled at me, he told me things… he made me mad. For a few minutes I stopped perceiving the world. I could only think of one thing: revenge. I don't remember what happened during those minutes, but when I came back I had my nose and legs covered in blood, and my father was… he… he was…"

A single tear dropped from his eye and all the way down his cheek.

"I killed him… I had killed him, Bolt…"

The dog watched his former enemy break down in tears, quietly. Finally, when he decided it had been enough, he hugged him, just like he would do to any of his friends. The Pitbull didn't reject the gesture and slowly stopped crying.

"After that, I lived my life on anger and hatred. I got into unnecessary fights… never made a friend…"

"Until now," Bolt assured him.

"What? You want to be my friend?"

Bolt nodded. "And surely Beta will, too. Everyone, in the end, will accept you."

"I… I guess what your cat said is true. The past is behind…" Finally, he sounded convinced of what he was saying, and even more when he added, "Well, I'll go and talk to her. I still owe her an apology for what I did."

"Go."

The Pitbull got up and went straight towards Beta. Seconds after they both stood a little apart from the rest. Mega didn't seem to like that, but Helang, on his back, said something to him and he calmed down.

Bolt looked back again; Kia was sitting with her head down, several meters away from him, her back in his direction. He didn't know how to feel about this, honestly. He had broken her heart, but only because of the circumstances under which he had met her. If they had with his memories in order, or if Centauri hadn't met her before him…

 _It's useless to cry over spilled milk,_ Penny's mother had said sometime. He now understood. Things had gone that way, and he couldn't change them. _And even if I could, I probably wouldn't,_ He reasoned. That was encouragement enough for him to walk up to her.

"Hi," He said in a low voice as he sat next to her.

"Hi, Bolt…" She answered with no emotion.

"Kia, I…"

"Don't talk, Bolt. Like he said, I don't want nor need your pity. You want to help?" The dog nodded. "Then listen, that might help. Yes, I fell in love with you. Yes, it was while you had your memories altered. Yes, I didn't like it when the ca- Mittens, came into the picture, and yes, I wanted to kill her. Yes, Centauri was manipulating me back there; yes, I understand that your heart belongs to her, and hers to you. I know it would be useless and that my situation has no solution, and thus I think leaving and you never knowing again from me is the better solution." She burst with tears running down her cheeks. "But nobody ever treated me like you, memories altered or not."

"But I wasn't treating you in any special way, Kia," Bolt said. "That's how I treat all of my friends. I'm sorry that I hurt you, I'm sorry that we met in that way; maybe if things had been different…"

He stopped himself. He couldn't change the past and wouldn't try to imagine the opposite. He decided to take the conversation like had done with the Pitbull.

"What would you do if you don't stay? Where would you go?"

"Does it even matter? I'm a waste of space. No one will ever worry about me, or love me for that matter."

Bolt frowned. "You're pitying on yourself, and that's enough." He said firmly, causing the vixen to turn look at him. "Geez, I really sometimes don't get girls," He muttered to himself before looking back at her. "Look, bad things happened; I don't know all of your story, but you told Soul that nobody never took care of you. That, for instance, can't be totally bad: it is quite remarkable that you are independent and strong and that you know how to take care of yourself. And number two, is in the past. No matter how we met, I now tell you that you will be welcome here, among us. It is the rule of a pack: we all take care of each other, and you won't be the exception."

Kia nodded, looking at the dog with admiration, some tears still dripping from her eyes. She took a step towards him and then stopped.

"C-Can I?" She asked, pointing at his chest. "As a friend, as a friend!" She clarified quickly.

"You don't need to explain yourself, I'll hug everyone equally. If you ever need it, don't hesitate to ask me." He told her softly while nodding.

The vixen still looked doubtful. "But, Mittens is watching… I don't want to cause more problems."

"She knows my heart belongs to her. She'll understand." Without giving Kia time to respond, he cut the distance between them and held her tightly. "Besides, you need it."

The she-fox froze from the impression for a couple seconds. Then she buried her head in his chest and breathed in his scent. She got carried away by the warm feeling and enjoyed every second of it, feeling something quite new for her. Peace.

The dog stayed there until Kia parted by her own will. She looked much, much calmer.

"Thank you, Bolt," She whispered full of gratitude.

"It was nothing. And don't worry, now that you will have friends we can help you find a mate. Or maybe you'll find one here."

The vixen's look turned back to doubt. "What if I can't forget you?"

"I think you will. Not today, or tomorrow, but when you meet someone else who gets your attention…"

"Thanks, Bolt," She interrupted, rising herself a little to lick his cheek.

"You're welcome."

She then looked in no particular direction for a second or two. "Well, I think I owe your friend an apology."

"Go on," Bolt encouraged her. "It'll be easier than you think."

She nodded and went looking for Delta.

The white shepherd kept thinking about what he had done. He had dedicated himself to convincing both of them that they would be accepted on the team, but he was not sure it was totally true. Until that day, some in the group still had their doubts about Bud and James, and had met both months ago. He desperately wanted the situation not to repeat itself, he wanted to make sure that the two of them would feel comfortable with the rest.

 _Soul, I need your help!_ He thought, trying not to doubt his team and his friends.

"I know what torments you, Bolt. However, I am not to decide for them; each one is a free entity, and can have an opinion about this."

 _But there must be something you can do to increase the degree of their acceptance!_

" _Okay, yes. Maybe, if we officially inaugurate the team and name them part of it, they'll be more open to it. But is the only thing I can do, Bolt. Their decisions belong to them."_

 _That's more than enough._

" _Then take it for granted."_

Another voice caught his attention. "Wags?" Bolt looked around, found her, and she asked before he could speak, "What are you doing still here?"

"Thinking," He said. "I'm worried that they won't be accepted. Kia was feeling worse; she even said she was a waste of space and I'm not sure I convinced her otherwise. Neither has a place to call 'home', or people to call 'family', and I would like that place to be here and those to be us."

"You're overthinking; Soul has already agreed to let them stay and that's a big point in favor."

"Well, yes, but…" He broke off with a sigh.

"What is it, Bolt?"

He didn't respond immediately. "I have to stop thinking about it or I'll go crazy."

The black cat smiled. "I can help you with that."

"Please. It's about time we place some peace and tranquility on our daily agenda."

* * *

 **Hi! I know, I know... late again... Got my reason, though. My keyboard, it's been acting weird. Letters T and Y don't work anymore, so I had to get an external keyboard to keep writing. You have no idea of how hard it can be to use a touch heyboard when your laptop is NOT touch. Anyway, hope you guys liked the chapter, and I'm halfway through the next one, so I hope I will be able to upload in time for once... Yep. Anyway, my special thanks to Basbon and ShadowScare for their reviews (Hope you guys are still out there, I'm not gone), and well, I guess that's all I have to say... nos vemos luego!**


	62. Celebrations and ceremonies

Chapter 62: Celebrations and ceremonies

Bolt was lying on the grass, resting near a lake, Mittens at his side, eyes closed and purring. She had fallen asleep a little over one hour ago, just after they had seen the sunset. He envied her a little, but he knew that no matter how hard he tried, eh wouldn't be able to join her in her rest this time; there were too many things going through his head to allow it. He appreciated that the cat had taken him to where they were had spent their last date, the same day he had recovered his memories. During the time she had been awake, they had been doing all kinds of stuff, and he got easily distracted; but she was tired, and so was he, so they had lain down to rest a while. They had talked a little more like that, but eventually she had snuggled against him and closed her eyes, allowing his mind to soar back into everything he had thought before reaching that place.

He looked up again. Thousands of bright spots lay over them, surrounding the huge, silver one, irregularly molded. He stared at the sky for a while, until he felt it was about time for them to go back. Maybe they had stopped the shadows, but there were still things to be done, and being away at night, only them two, wasn't the most safe he could feel. The dog moved his sight until it was on the black bulk that was next to him. He located her head, sunk between her own paws and legs, and gave it a gentle lick before speaking softly into her ear.

"Mittens, it's time to go back."

She simply shifted her position and snuggled a little more.

"Mittens, it's late," Bolt tried again, this time with a slightly higher tone.

"Mm… a little more," The cat mumbled without even opening her eyes.

"Come on, Mittens, they are waiting for us," He pressed after remembering what he had asked Soul to do.

"And they can wait for us… a little more," She repeated with indifference.

Bolt found himself with an old friend, frustration. He knew cast used to sleep more than dogs –Mittens had made that clear, plenty of times–, but it was night and they had something important to do back home. The he got an idea; it was bad, but it was the only one he had.

Bolt tensed his muscles, ready to run. He placed his face close to Mittens' ear once more, took a deep breath and went on.

"Mittens!" He yelled from the top of his lungs, well aware that he was asking for trouble.

The cat jumped into the air, frightened, opening her eyes wide and quickly looking all around them in search for danger. Bolt couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction, chuckle that stopped as soon as her eyes met his, her pupils turning into thin vertical lines.

"Bolt, did you just do what I think you did?" She asked in a tone that demanded for him to pick his answer very carefully.

"Uh… well, I…"

He didn't finish and turned tail to run back home.

"I'm going to rip your ears off when I catch you!" She shouted from behind him, prompting him to run faster. "You're dead, Bolt, you're dead if I lay a paw on you!"

The shepherd kept running like there was no tomorrow, not using his hyperspeed, though. Mittens couldn't use it, and even though she wanted him dead at the moment, leaving her alone in the night didn't seem right to him, even if she could take care of herself. He limited himself to run fast as his normal capabilities let him.

"How many times do I have to repeat you to _not wake me up_?! Especially in such a rude, ungentle way, you mangy dog!"

That just let Bolt know that if she didn't receive a good excuse for waking her up, he would suffer. A lot.

 _Soul, help me, please!_ He begged silently, sensing that the cat was coming closer.

" _Roger that."_

That response only confused him, but since he didn't receive any more answers he just kept running, hoping that Soul would help him.

He kept running for about ten minutes, checking his back regularly to make sure that Mittens didn't gain any ground, but that she wasn't left behind either. When he finally turned a corner and got a visual of his home in the distance, he accelerated to win some time. He was not entirely sure if Soul, or anyone at all, was going to help him, so he aimed to get a place to hide.

He reached the garden, where everyone was in their business until they saw him.

"Quick, into the barn!" Mega told him.

"Thanks! Please don't tell her where I am!"

"Not even if they tortured me," The wolf promised.

He entered said building and closed the door behind him. The crater he had made with his superbark had already been patched. Penny's voice distracted him for a moment.

"What happened?"

"He woke Mittens up. Shouting at her." Mega explained.

"Man! He has my condolences," Rhino put in. "If it were any enemy, a Superbark fixes it, but dealing with _her_ …"

Bolt tried to ignore the conversation from outside to concentrate on hiding. After all, the barn wasn't the best idea, it was too obvious. While trying to think, he heard the door open softly. He turned around expecting the worst, but it was Kass. The cat walked a few steps into the place and dropped something he had in his mouth in front of Bolt.

"Don't get used to it," He said. "We won't always be here to save your butt."

Without even giving him an opportunity to ask, he turned around and left the barn.

Bolt decided to ignore… whatever the cat had brought and kept looking for a place to hide. He couldn't find anything good before hearing a voice outside, angry but dangerously mild in tone.

"Where is he?"

"Barn." Mega replied without hesitation.

 _Traitor,_ The dog thought, falling into despair.

The door opened wide with a creek, spreading moonlight over a part of the barn. A feline shadow was noticeable in the grayish light.

"I hope you asked them to bury you," She threatened as she began walking forward.

"Mi-Mittens, wait… I-I had reasons for doing that."

"Name them."

Bolt fell silent. He wasn't sure that the appointment of Kia and the Pitbull was enough reason for her. Instinctively he began to back away while Mittens kept moving forward. They kept going until Mittens stepped on something.

"What is this?" She asked before lowering her head and sniffing a little. When she lifted her head, her gaze had changed into surprise. "It's… it's salmon. Do you know anything about this, Bolt?"

The shepherd understood in the split of a second his friends' plan. They had done most of it, but he had to finish.

"I… I asked it for you. I would have looked for it myself, but I don't know where to find it, so… I asked Kass to get you a little. Because… because I…"

The cat didn't let him finish, she jumped on him. However, opposite to how it would have been just a few seconds earlier, she did so to hug and kiss him.

"Thank you, wags," She said into his ear. "Sorry for overreacting like that."

"It wasn't your fault. And I won't do it again, I promise." _Never, ever, ever, ever again._

"Waking me up or the salmon?"

Bolt tensed at the tone she used, but she kept going before he could answer, in a flirtatious tone.

"I'm joking, little puppy."

"Hey, you lovebirds! If you're done with that, there's something going on out here, you know?" Mega called from outside the barn.

They parted and left the place, Mittens carrying Bolt's little gift and smiling widely. When they took a look at the garden at least two surprises for each one came in.

There was a pile of stacked wood, surrounded by some rocks. Around of it, there was the majority of the group, even including Kia and the Pitbull, who were talking among themselves, these two to the Labrador retriever siblings they had attacked that very same day. Soul's voice echoed in the air.

" _It's time. Mega, light it up."_

The wolf nodded, made his way among the others and, being close enough to the pile of wood, turned his coat into a bright orange and spat fire from his mouth onto the wood, lighting it like he had been instructed to do. Soul's voice echoed again.

" _Alright, let's celebrate!"_

Some distant sounds began to appear. At first they seemed random, but as the guys paid attention, they turned out to be a melody.

"You did it, Soul?" The only human female in the group asked.

" _Sound is energy, too, is it not?"_ He answered to the girl right before she felt a slight touch on her shoulder. Penny turned around and found nothing more than Soul, on his yellow body once more. "Hi."

"Isn't that supposed to cost you a lot of energy?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah… took a loan. It's not important now," He said with a shrug. Then he moved his hand to move some logs and rocks, accommodating them in what looked like a small improvised box, at a safe distance from the newly lit fire. In spite of the materials it was made of and how quickly he assembled it, when Soul got on top of it, it didn't tremble at all. It was solid, apparently.

"Attention, everyone!" he called. In a second or two there were sixteen pairs of eyes on him. "Today we defeated the dark organization of Centauri, and lost none of ours in the process," A chorus of cheering was heard. "However, there are things that must be said here and now, before moving on. Mega, Byte, Helang, step forward, please."

The three of them exchanged a confused look and went around the campfire to where their master had called them. When they reached him, Soul kneeled down from the box and whispered to them, "I'm very proud of you three. Slowly, the contact I have with this world will decrease," He explained next. "That's why you will take my place as the guardians of nature and balance."

"Yes, Master," They all answered in unison.

Soul raised his voice again. "I request to the souls of the council to observe these three beings. They have worked and trained hard to respect your laws and keep your balance; they defend the weak and help the needy. Therefore, I say that, from now one, Mega, Byte and Helang, in unison shall be known as Ómicron!"

The three of them exchanged another look, excited this time, and felt it even more when, from no specific point, a chorus of voices began to chant the new name.

" _Ómicron, Ómicron, Ómicron, Ómicron!"_

After a few seconds, the team itself joined into the choir. Soul allowed them to continue encouraging the newly appointed Ómicron for a minute before raising a hand to ask for silence. His staff flew from where he had left it to his outstretched hand and he bent down again and touched the forehead of the three with one of the crystals.

"They will be honored for their bravery in times of need and will be remembered even after their souls have left their current bodies," He added to finish the ceremony.  
The three returned to the rest of their team, notably excited and happy. Soul's words had stoked their excitement, now that they were officially Ómicron and would replace their father guarding the natural balance.

"But that's not all," Soul kept talking, before pointing his staff at Kia and the Pitbull. "You two, come closer."

They looked at each other and then back to the rest. No all of them made eye contact, but Bolt and Mittens encouraged them with their eyes, so they walked to the improvised stage.

"I request to the souls of the council to observe these two beings," Soul repeated, initiating another ceremony. "They have lived under the influence of the darkness and have gone through hard and arduous times. However they are here, ready to resume a more pleasant path and redeem themselves. Therefore, as a sign that you have changed, you," –He pointed to the Pitbull– "shall be known as Erin from now on, and I officially welcome you to this team. Your strength is huge; well-channeled, it will have many positive uses." The dog bowed his head with respect and Soul touched it with his free hand.

For a moment there was a silence. Bolt, fearing that he wouldn't be received well by the rest, shouted, "Welcome, Erin!", and saw the rest of them start cheering his name, as if it had been an order, as Soul separated his temporary hand from the dark gray fur of his forehead.

"And you–" Soul intended to keep going when the bustle quieted down.

"With all due respect," Kia interrupted at a considerable volume. "I like my name and I don't want to change it. I can change without changing my name."

"You speak the truth, but a ceremony is a ceremony," Soul answered in a low tone, earning a discontent look from the vixen, that he ignored as he continued, "Therefore, Kia, from now on you shall be known as… Kia!"

The female relaxed her expression, and then faced him. "Are you kidding me?"

"I don't kid. Except when I do. And I officially welcome you to this team. Your speed and ability are fantastic. We'll polish that potential to get the best of you." Like with Erin, Soul touched her forehead with his hand.

"Thanks, Soul."

This time Bolt had no need to cheer alone, for it started on its own, and lasted about the same like the last one.

"Now, Kia and Erin, bond with your new family," Soul dismissed them with that and both of them obeyed and walked back. Their gestures and steps were calm, but their faces shinned with excitement. Clearly both had now decided to stay and belong.

"There's still more to do," Soul pointed out when they had settled with the team. "Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, come."

The three walked to him, knowing more or less what was going to happen.

"I request to the souls of the council to look on these three beings. They had worked hard to master the pillar among them and they were capable of coping with all the tests that were imposed on them, always as a team." Soul paused and lowered his voice. "I assume you don't want your names changed?" The three of them shook their heads. "Figured as much." He raised his voice again. "From now on, Bolt, Mittens and Rhino form the pillar of light of this zone, and are in charge of protecting the surrounding areas from organizations like the one we brought down, be it of darkness or light."

Again, Soul reached down to touch the three of them on the forehead, with one of the staff's crystals. Then the team, as well as the bodyless voices around, cheered their names as they walked back.

"Finally," Soul said. "I'll make one last ceremony. Penny, come here."

The girl looked confused towards him. "Me?"

"You are the only Penny present here, girl."

The girl, doubtful, walked towards the box. Once there, Soul extended a hand towards her, and she took it, not sure if she had to. Soul pulled her up into the box besides him.

"This ceremony is not like the other ones, it's personal." He announced, then looked at the girl. "Penny, during this time you have learned your way, and I've taught you in a particular way. Particuarly today you handled my weapon particularly well, and it seems particularly fond of you. That's why I want to make to you the official owner of it."

"What?"

Soul ignored the question and placed his staff in a horizontal position, then left it floating there. "From now on, this staff will respond to you and only to you, Penny." Soul then touched gently each one of the crystals and pushed it towards her. "Take it."

Penny stretched a hand and placed it on the weapon's central crystal. It began to shine brightly and emitted a sound for a few seconds before staying still. The girl, with an encouraging look from Soul, took the object with her healthy hand; it was still slightly taller than her.

"Thanks, Soul," She smiled at him.

"You understand that a great power carries a great responsibility, right? All these ceremonies are not just for aesthetics; now your responsibilities are official. Your pets have a special case, but we will talk it tomorrow."

Penny nodded.

"Yes, Soul, I understand."

"Very well, then go and integrate with your team."

Just a few minutes after Penny's ceremony, the adults who knew about the battle came out. Diego and Fer brought out something that looked like a megaphone with them, and Penny's mother brought what no doubt smelled like food.

"Alright, now you are in all your right to celebrate as you wish." Soul approved from his place. "We have trained hard for this day and succeeded; we are a team, a family and will celebrate as one." He took a deep breath and yowled, "Victory!"

As an immediate response two howls were heard, belonging to Mega and Byte. Helang's sharp war cry sounded, too, while other sounds began to join them. Everyone stopped when they heard a third, high-pitched howl, to look for the owner of it. Turns out, on top of Mega's head, Rhino was pointing his head up.

"Rhino?" Bolt asked. "You howl?"

The hamster stopped what he was doing and looked at his friend. "Well, yes… I'm one-sixteenth wolf after all."

"I had never taken that seriously," Mittens mentioned. "And now that I do, I will never understand how it happened."

The hamster shrugged and howled again, prompting the pair of wolves to do the same. Once more, a chorus of different cries of victory flew through the air in the dim light of the moon, being audible from quite a distance, on the physical world or any of the others. They had fulfilled what they had to, and now it was time to celebrate. They had earned it, all of them.

A couple of hours had went by, but the celebration was on its peak point. The speaker Diego and Fer had brought had been used to play music. Not to worry about how much anyone could play, Soul could change the frequency of the air particles to play whichever song they wanted. Mega had used the box to tell some jokes, and to sing with help from his two siblings. When they had finished, someone else had gotten up to take their place, and so on and so on. Everyone had dinned outdoors, near the campfire's heat, and the night would be reviewed by Rhino as 'be-awesome' for a long, long time.

At some point, Mega walked towards Bolt, while the latter's mate chatted with Kia and Erin , both of them looking much more comfortable and happy among the others.

"Bolt."

The shepherd turned around. "Oh, hi, Mega. Thanks for… you know, what happened back there," He said with a smile.

"Yes, well, in fact that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

The seriousness on the wolf's face made Bolt sit down. "What about it?"

"Well, I'm nobody to stick my nose into your relationship with Mittens, but it's also clear that you've always been honest with each other. You shouldn't hide what happened a while ago, not now that she's not angry anymore. She'll take it well."

The dog nodded. "Actually I was already considering to. Like you said, I haven't lied to her since you appeared with your secret training thing for me only."

"And you won't thank your faithful friend who got the precious load to distract your angry beloved?" Kass' voice rang behind Bolt.

"Of course I will," Bolt told him. "Thanks. By the way, where did you…?"

"Cat secret," The feline cut him. "But I agree with Mega, you should tell her."

"Tell me what?" Asked the one they were talking about as she walked into the conversation, sitting down besides Bolt.

"Consider it," Mega said to the shepherd, turning then to Kass. "Come, friend, do me the honor and sing with me."

The cat moved his tail and followed the wolf, leaving Bolt alone with Mittens.

"Tell me what?" She asked again.

Bolt tried to think quickly of how to tell her without making her mad at him again. "Well, I…"

"Wags, you look very thoughtful. Do you want me to… distract you a little?" She said seductively as she started walking around him, caressing him with her tail.

The white shepherd tensed and got nervous. Now that Mega had explained some things to him, it was easier to tell what the black she-cat was insinuating as she walked coquettishly around him.

"M-Mi-Mittens–" He stuttered.

"What is it, Bolt? Did a pretty cat ate your tongue?" She said with the same tone, placing one of her paws into his chest.

Bolt, as he could, controlled his nervousness and an instinct that had just begun to emerge.

"N-No, Mittens, wait," He said, taking her paw and lowering it to the floor. "What I have to tell you is important. I… lie–"

An applause wave interrupted him this time. Mega and Kass were done singing, and they were bowing now to their public. By the sound of it, they were good together.

"And now," Mega said from the box when the cheering ended. "I want to call the key piece of the team: The pillar of light!"

Kass played along: "Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, come up and sing a little, will ya?"

"What? Oh, no, no, no, no, no!"

"We don't like 'no' for an answer, Bolt!" The wolf told him, ignoring his tone.

Bolt ignored how, but the next thing he knew, he was on the box, sided by his two best friends. Mittens didn't seem bothered at all, and Rhino was still in his excitement-frenzy-for-the-night, but him…

Soul touched the speaker with his hand and then moved it a little, as if setting something. When he finished a very familiar tune for them three began to sound.

"Do you remember, wags?" Mittens asked.

"Of course I do. I could never forget that song."

"Then let's show them how we sing!" Rhino added.

The emotion and joy of his two companions infected him, and he decided he would sing, just as Mittens had taught him to. The cat started alone:

 _I have got so much to give,_

 _I swear I do._

 _I may not have nine lives_

 _But this one feels brand new_

 _Yes, I've lived a good one_

 _I have tried to be true_

 _There are some things I never realized_

' _Till I met you_

Then Rhino joined in, leaving just Bolt in await for his part.

 _How the wind feels on my cheeks,_

 _When I'm barking at the moon_

The shepherd took a breath and joined his friends.

There is no home like the one you've got

' _Cause that home belongs to you._

 _Woo-Hoo! Here I come_

 _Woo-Hoo! Back to you._

 _There is no home like the one you've got_

 _´Cause that home belongs to you_

 _Well I was in trouble, bad_

 _I was so confused_

 _I may not see in color, babe_

 _But I sure can feel blue._

Just then Bolt realized he had sung his part alone, right as Mittens joined back in.

I have been a lot of things

 _They may not all be true_

 _My experience was so mysterious_

' _Till I met you_

Rhino joined in back once more and the three sang along together.

 _Now the sun will rise in the east_

 _But I'm barking at the moon_

 _There is no home like the one you've got_

' _Cause that home belongs to you_

 _Woo-Hoo! Here I come_

 _Woo-Hoo! Back to you_

 _There is no home like the one you've got_

' _Cause that home belongs to you_

 _There is no home like the one you've got_

' _Cause that home belongs to you_

 _There is no home like the one you've got_

' _Cause that home belongs to you_

A chorus of applause and cheering filled the night air. The three thanked briefly and got back into the floor.

"Not bad," Mega said when they walked down. "You could do that for a living, but now nobody's there, so I'm heading back up. Coming, Kass?"

"Not this time, buddy. Gotta rest."

"Alright then."

The wolf jumped onto the box and the three went back to their affairs.

"Hey, Mega," Soul called. "It's getting late, do something more calm, will ya?"

"Of course, Master. I have the perfect song." The wolf whispered something into Soul's temporal ear and the latter nodded. He walked to the speaker and played with it again. When he finished, a slow and pleasant tune began to play.

"Very well, this is the last one," Soul announced. "Give a thunderous applause to Mega and his last song for the night."

(^)

"Ready?" The wolf asked from the box.

Mega began with his song after receiving applause and shouts of encouragement, while everyone moved around, some even starting to dance, Bolt and Mittens among them. Byte and Helang, too, somehow.

Penny felt a light touch on her shoulder. She turned and found who she was expecting to find. The cause of all that mess in bright yellow. Friend, master, and –she had even began to consider– brother; Soul.

"What is it, Soul?"

He made a gesture with his hand and bowed slightly. "May I have this dance, milady?"

The girl smiled. "Sure."

Both closed distance and began to move slowly while the wolf sang. They spent a few seconds in total silence, just following his melody.

"Thanks," Soul said suddenly, grabbing her attention.

"For what?" Penny asked.

"For everything. You let me train your pets, let me help you and even helped me in the process."

"Then, thank you, too, Soul. For everything," Penny said, stopping the dance to hug him. She left her head on the yellow chest and closed her eyes, while he held her, both of them feeling both physical and emotional warm from the embrace.

"You are like an older brother to me, one I never had."

"I can tell you the same, lioness. I wish my sister would have been half helpful as you," He added with a touch of humor and melancholy, that didn't go unnoticed by the girl.

"It's true," Penny recalled, parting from his hug. "Your sister, we have to find her!"

She began to part from Soul, energy renewed out of the blue. She was totally willing to comply with what she had promised to do.

Soul grabbed her by her arms to keep her still. "No," He said simply. "I shall let her go. If I find her one day, then great, but I not… it's not important anymore. Let her fly, fly away and live her life." He said solemn and serious as rarely seen.

Penny nodded sympathetically and after a few seconds of thinking she returned to her hug with Soul, few moments before getting away again. He looked at her confused as she searched the right words.

"But…"

She stopped herself.

"But what?" Soul asked.

"But what if… if she dies, or already has?" She asked, sounding doubtful.

"Then I'll let the cold autumn winds bring her to me, and I'll look for her among the brittle, colorful leaves that lie in the stream."

Penny raised an eyebrow and stared at him.

"What?"

"Don't, Soul, just don't. Not poetry, doesn't suit you."

"Oh, well, fine then! One's trying to do new things and you cut his wings like that!" He replied jokingly. "I'll find her when I have to; in the meantime, and forever, you're also my sister."

Penny chuckled for the first part and hugged him again after the second one.

"I love you, big brother."

"And me too, little sister. I love you too…"

"I will never forget you, Soul." She added in a whisper.

He didn't answer, just wrapped his temporal arms around her, in one of those hugs that make you forget everything exists. It lasted even after the wolf had finished singing, after the applause of the audience, and even after some of the team had gone back home. When Soul let go of her, she had a weary look on her face.

"Now, go on rest," He said, with his hand on her chin. "There are things to do tomorrow."

"Thanks," She said in a hushed, sleepy tone.

"Miss Forrester, you too. Diego and Fer, too. I'll clean this."

The adults all thanked him and entered their homes, leaving Soul with few of the team that were still there. He saw the pillar of light offering temporal shelter to the newest members of the team in their barn for the night and approached to intervene.

"I agree with them. And you two, don't worry. We'll start your training soon enough."

Erin asked first, "Will you train us?"

"I will help you whenever you need me to, and give you advice, too. But I cannot train you as I would like since I no longer belong to this place. Ómicron will take care of your training, like it did with the rest of the team."

"Thanks. When do we start?" Kia asked in turn.

"For now, focus on resting. Tomorrow begins a new era on this story."

* * *

 **Well, here it is. I got a brand new laptop and my keyboard is as good as new... like it is! So, now I hope I'll be back into writing schedule, and bring you the next chapter next week. My special thanks and grattitude to Basbon and ShadowScare for reviewing and waiting patiently for me to upload, even when I took half an eternity. Anyway, I guess that's all I have to say right now, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	63. Farewells

Chapter 63: Farewells

Soul finished cleaning up everything that had been used for the celebration by the time the sun was showing its first rays of light over the treetops. Just when he had finished he received a call from his own world, so he vanished from the physical one and returned home.

Upon arriving, the first being with whom he interacted was the superior who had helped him a couple of times before.

"You're late. This time, you don't get a choice."

"What are you talking about?" The newcomer asked.

"Nature's council," The superior answered dryly. "They're having a session with you."

"A session?" Soul's indignancy was clear. "What am I, a criminal?"

"You have not even started to understand the amount of energy you spent only yesterday's Earth time. Your first one was paid with your own rations, but you took hold of the communal energy of this place for the second one, which used a lot more."

Soul understood where the superior was going with all that.

"Okay. What will happen to me?"

"That's for the council to decide. You will only answer what they ask you and be careful with your choice of words; if you admit you did something wrong, they may take it easier on your compensation."

Soul sighed. "Okay, let's do it."

Penny woke up later that day, and she wasn't the only one. When she opened her eyes none of her pets had done as much. She got up silently and went to the bathroom to get ready for the day. When she was, her pets had already wakened too. The four of them went downstairs and had breakfast before going into the garden; to her surprise, they were the last ones. Everyone else was already there. And that was when she realized her arm no longer hurt… Soul must have healed it.

"Morning, sleepyheads," Mega greeted them.

"Morning," They answered.

"What will we do today?" Rhino asked right away.

"I don't know," Helang said. "Master told us to meet here and wait, but he has not appeared."

"It won't hurt to wait for him, huh? It's not like we haven't before." Penny pointed out.

"I guess…"

The hawk was interrupted by Mega's yowl of "Shadows!"

Heads turned around. When they confirmed the wolf's warning, the team was ready in no time. As the specters approached, they became recognizable. The shadow mentor and its two uncleaned pupils.

"What do you want?" Mega asked in a growl when they were close enough.

The shadow held his stare for a few seconds and then sighed.

"I'm sick of this shit," Is said, pointing to itself. "I want you to purify me."

"What about them?"

"Just clean us… if it's not a bother," Shade muttered.

Mega looked at Helang and the latter nodded.

"Why purify you?" The wolf asked.

"Because I'm tired of feeding on the suffering of others. I won't do it again while I live, but I can't keep that promise if I am a shadow."

Mega opened his mouth to ask again, but Byte walked to his side. "It will hurt. It' not like a cleaning process; we're altering your very essence of life, and that _will_ hurt."

"I don't care. Just do it." The shadow closed its eyes.

Mega and Byte exchanged a glance and shrugged. Helang settled on the back of the male and coordinated them. "Okay, guys, give me light then."

Both nodded and charged their light beams. The last time they had done something similar was when they had freed Flor from her shadow. It took them half a minute and they aimed at the shadow, which had its eyes shut still.

"So? I don't fell no–"

Its scream of pain interrupted the sentence. Three shots of light straight into its chest had been fired and began to do their thing. It began to complain within seconds.

"It burns! It burns! Stop it! Stop it, please!"

"What are you doing to him? You're killing him! Stop!" Shade wailed at them.

"No. If they stop now, he'll die." Beta told him. "If he endures the pain a little longer, he will be done. Patience."

The young shadow backed away a little and looked away too, unable to face his mentor suffering like that. But, as Beta had explained, only a few seconds later the big shadow began to whiten, starting at its chest were the light beams were making contact and growing around until it was totally white.

"T-This is…" The newly purified shadow looked at its arms, admiring their new color. "This is awesome!" It shouted before jumping to his liberators and stretching hands happily with them. "Thank you!"

" _Very well, very well,"_ The voice everyone had been waiting for said. _"But you need a name now. What was your code number?"_

"73968… No, wait. It was… 73964… C, K… E, D… W, I think."

" _Fine then. What about 'Ed'?"_

"Ed?" The spectrum repeated.

" _Ed. It was part of your number but is actually sounds like a name and it's much simpler to remember."_

"Ed… Screw it, I'm Ed!" He shouted, raising his arms with excitement.

" _Alright, Ed. You're a light and you're free. Go and live your life."_

"Not until my pupils are freed too."

"That's up to us, then," Bolt said, walking forward with his two friends. "Shade, come here," He asked.

The shadow floated towards the shepherd and looked at his companions before looking at him again.

"You know them, don't tell me otherwise, man," Bolt told him. "They were inside the memories you altered."

The shadow flinched at that mention, but it didn't see any sign of resentment on any of them.

"Don't you hate me for that?"

"Why should we?" It was Mittens this time.

"What? What do you mean? I altered the memories of your mate. I made him doubt you and hate you while he had no memory."

"But you're here," Rhino pointed out. "Ready to be cleaned. After all, Bolt always mentioned that you four never were like the elite shadow. He said you never were fully shadows."

"Really? Am I that bad to be a bad guy?"

Bolt didn't answer. He gave the shadow a gentle smile and told him to come closer. Shade complied and moved closed until he felt a paw on his stomach.

"Ready?" The dog asked.

"Ready, wags."

"Ready for action!"

The three joined their paws and gave Shade the necessary energy charge to clean him. As they did with Alex. Once the three were out of destruction path, Soul told them, _"Now you're free to do whatever you want."_

The three looked at each other and turned around to leave. Before doing so, however, Ed looked back.

"We're in your debt. Especially you, Bolt. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate on finding us and asking."

"Thank you."

The light nodded and continued its way. While leaving, another group of specters crossed with them, and they exchanged words before two of the newcomers left with the light. Then Umbra and Lux arrived and growled.

"They say James and Bud left with their mentor," Kass translated.

"Well, I sure do hope they live well." Helang said, giving voice to more than one's thoughts.

" _I would like to talk and all, but I'm a little short in time today, so I better get started."_ Soul said a few seconds after a silence fell in.

"What is it?" Penny asked.

" _Next course of action, lioness. You are here and now protect these area. You understand, right?"_

"Yes, Soul."

" _Very well. Ómicron, I need you to move south. You're going to Mexico; search for survivors from yesterday's battle."_ He instructed with a tone of concern that didn't go unnoticed.

"Something wrong, Master?"

" _No; everything is fine. We just gotta make sure nobody like Centauri rises again to try and rule the world."_

"Yes, let's go!" Beta said, noticeably excited.

"Oh, no. You are _not_ coming, young lady." Mega stopped her. "You're not ready."

"What are you talking about, dad? I'm more than capable for this!"

"Capable or not, you stay here, with Flor and your siblings. That's it."

"But…"

"No."

An uncomfortable silence settled in the group. Soul cleared his throat seconds later.

" _Beta, weirdly, I agree with your father. You must not go to Mexico."_ She lowered her head. _"Because I want you to go to Oregon with me."_

"What?" Father and daughter asked at a time.

" _It's time you had your first mission without Ómicron's help. I want you to travel to my old home. Maybe we'll find something useful there."_

"Yes!"

"No!"

" _Don't worry, Mega. She'll be with her grandad."_

"Huh?" She asked, tilting her head.

" _Me. I raised them, right? And he raised you, so following you father's father… that would be me."_

Mega resigned after a few seconds. "Be careful."

"I will, dad."

The team moved on to congratulate Beta on her new assignment, but someone asked an important thing.

"Hey, Soul, then who will train us?" It had been Kia.

Judging for the total silence that followed, not even the team leader had thought on that.

" _I know!"_ He said after a minute. _"Kia, Erin, you will travel with Beta. I have an old friend north that will be glad to complete your training. Invitation applies to you, too,"_ He added, circling Alpha, Flor and Delta with a flow of air. _"Though I think I know the answer."_

"With all due respect, no, thank you," Alpha answered. "I would like to stay here… and I have some things to do."

"Same here. I would like to lower a little the amount of action in my life, but I appreciate the offer." Flor added.

"About me, what will it be of Alpha if I'm not here to take care of her?"

" _Very well. Now some less pleasant news…"_ Soul added, attracting everyone's attention back to him. _"Today in the morning I had a session with the council of nature. Like I said yesterday, I need a lot of energy to materialize, and I did it twice. I have been restricted to contact with one physical being until I recover the amount of energy I spent. In the meantime, no one else will hear my voice. I have time today to finish some issues, but then, only Beta will be able to hear me."_

"Wait, me?" The mentioned asked.

" _Yes, you. Since it will be your first mission alone and you are headed to my old home, I have decided that you will be the physical being with whom I make contact during the next months."_

"Soul?" Penny called.

" _Yes?"_

"Will we see you again?"

" _Don't ever doubt it, lioness. Now, if you'll excuse me, I better go say goodbye to the adults and then… well. Mega introduce them to the concept of the pillar, please. But beforehand… Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, knowing you and helping in your training has been a real pleasure. Unfortunately, they forbid me from telling you something important, but if you allow me, I could make one last action to influence your lives, knowing that I'm doing it for best."_

The pillar looked at each other for a few seconds before nodding.

"Do what you have to," Bolt approved.

" _Thanks. Now, see you."_

Soul's voice faded into the air, but they knew this time it was for several months. Only Beta would hear his voice again until he had made up for what he had spent.

"What was he talking about?" Bolt asked, remembering what he had asked Mega to do.

"Well, there are some technical things you should know," The wolf said. "You are a pillar, ok? But I understand that a normal and quiet life is in your to-do list, somewhere in your future. You don't have to be genius to know you can't have both." The wolf stopped for a few seconds.

"Go on," Bolt urged him.

"Well… as you know, the pillar gave you its power, but you weren't asked beforehand. It happened out of necessity. Here's the thing. Each of you has a choice, to keep your part of the pillar or let it go. It doesn't have to be now, you can resign at any time, no side effects. If one of you abdicates, the pillar will rebalance itself on the remaining two; same if two of you do, the last one will become full-pillar. If the last one abdicates, the pillar will be no more. You'll keep your skills but won't be able to do pillar-exclusive things, like cleaning shadows. Additionally, you won't be hear from a pillar again… well, you may receive another one, but it is so unlikely… let's leave it in impossible."

"I'm not quite understanding where you want to go with this, Mega," Rhino told him.

"With great power comer great responsibility," Mega said. "If you keep the pillar, you oversee the surrounding area, and your lives may be unpredictable with this responsibility. I repeat: you don't have to give it up _today_ ; you can keep it as long as you feel like it and quit it once you want to settle down or something."

The three of them looked at each other for several seconds.

"No. At least not for now," Bolt assured.

"What he said," Mittens nodded.

"If anyone tries to disturb peace around here, they will meet our fury!"

Mega chuckled at his comment. "I'm sure they will."

Helang cleared his throat. "We have to go."

"True," Byte coincided. "There is a journey to be made."

"Wait, you're leaving already?" Penny asked, her smile fading.

"Truth is, we have a lot to do. The travel for instance, then finding a foolish shadow to spit out the situation there, and so on. No time to lose."

"I understand." The girl answered in a muffled voice.

The group began to say their goodbyes to Ómicron. Some minutes elapsed between hugs and short storied until Soul spoke up again.

" _And you, too, are leaving now."_

"Yes, sir," Both Kia and Erin said at the same time.

"Let's go," Beta added.

"You will be careful," Mega remarked to her, and she nodded. "Very well, let's sing now!"

"No, Mega, please don't…" Byte begged him.

The wolf ignored his sister and began to sing while the three began their journey south, leaving the group behind.

" _Tell everybody I'm on my way, new friends and new places to see…"_

"See you some other time!" Helang shouted at them over Mega's voice.

The response was unanimous and somewhat lacking in emotion. Those three animals had changed the lives of everyone else in the remaining group.

"Well, we have to leave too," Beta whispered in the end. "It's a long way to Oregon, you know?"

"Alright," Was a general response.

Everyone spent the next ten minutes or so saying goodbye to the three team members taking another path before them getting ready to leave.

"We're going and coming back" Beta promised. "We'll return as soon as we are done with our business."

"Be careful," Kass advised. "You three can overcome anything."

No other comment was made, so Beta started walking. Erin followed shortly after, not without looking at Bolt once more. Kia didn't even look back and took a few steps before a voice stopped her.

"Kia,"

The vixen turned around and found Delta, considerably closer than the others.

"Be careful out there."

She only found a smile for an answer for about a minute.

"Thanks. I will."

Then she turned around and caught up with her two travelling companions. The rest of the team kept watching the two routes their friends had taken to go on into new adventures, different adventures.

"Well," Kass finally said, stretching. "I'm exhausted, so I'll throw myself under the tree if you don't mind."

He didn't wait for an answer and did as he had said. Umbra and Luz growled something in Morse and sunk on the ground, disappearing.

"I say… let's plee for a while," Peep suggested.

The group got divided into two; those who wanted to play, and those who lay down to rest. Penny, on her part, went inside to help her mother with a couple of things. As time progressed, the rest group grew while the play one shrink until in the middle of the afternoon, with an already orange sky and everyone resting through the garden, a small hummingbird appeared.

"What's that?" Jonathan asked when he saw the little animal.

"Wow, that's weird," Flor added. "I'd never seen one before."

While the others continued to comment on the appearance of the little guy, Bolt was thinking about one thing: his dream. The hummingbird was very similar to that other one he had seen, but he had no idea what it could mean. After a few minutes, when the bird left, the shepherd realized that Mittens was no longer at his side.

"Uh, Rhino?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you know where Mittens is?"

"Honestly, no. I saw her get up after the birdy appeared, but I don't know where she went."

"Thanks," Bolt said as he got up. Even knowing that there was no darkness and the shadows had calmed down, it was not usual for Mittens to disappear just like that; even more without telling him where she was going. _This is how she must've felt when I left home to find those two scents,_ He thought as he began to sniff the air. That moment seemed so distant to him… But he had to focus, and he began to look for his beloved even without having caught her scent, trying to ignore any unpleasant possibility.

* * *

 **And I'm on time this week! Hey, I wasn't letting it slip again when we're so close. Well, that's chapter 63 for you guys, and we're one away. BUT! I have a small surprise for ya guys, so even after chapter 64 is posted, keep tunned. You will hear again from me, but that's for later. My special thanks to Basbon and ShadowScare, with their ever-present reviews and support... hope you enjoyed it, guys! Anyway, that's all I have to say right now, so nos vemos luego!  
**


	64. There's no such thing as end

Chapter 64: No such thing as end.

"Mittens!" Bolt called again. He had searched everywhere, starting with the barn, but he had not found a trace of the cat. He had no idea how long he had been looking for her, but he had stopped caring anyway. The rest of the team had told him that she would be fine and that there was nothing to worry about, but he didn't want to hear something he already knew. He wanted to find her. "Mittens, where are you?" He didn't receive an answer, so he continued searching frantically for his mate, worried even if he had no reason to.

* * *

In an empty lot next to Bolt's house, a pair of emerald eyes had been watching the dog search to and fro, hidden from the dense vegetation. When they saw him enter the house again, they moved away from the edge of the bush and returned to their hiding place. It was Mittens.

The cat sighed with relief that the shepherd had not found her yet and returned to her own. She didn't want to be discovered until she was ready.

A few minutes went by with her minding her own business. She hadn't heard her beloved dog calling for her, so she had stopped peeking through the bush and had focused on getting ready.

"Hi!"

Mittens crouched as if she were under attack and widened her eyes. After a few seconds of scanning her surroundings she spotted Kass' orange and white fur, watching from a nearby branch.

"You scared me!" She growled at him after having shrieked from the impression.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to." The cat's apology was quickly replaced by curiosity as he leaned over. "What are you doing?"

"None of your business," She told him curtly. "It's for me and Bolt."

She had expected him to take the hint and leave, but if he had, he had ignored it and just kept staring at her.

"You're preening," He declared after a few seconds, with a tone of discovery. "What are you planning?"

"N-No-Nothing," She stuttered, blushing.

The male nodded, with an expression indicating he hadn't believed it for a moment.

"And tell me, does that 'nothing' requires you to bathe so deeply?" He pressed, jumping from the branch and landing besides her. "Because you've been here a long time, and us cats don't usually take this long in our _preenating_."

"Th-That's not even a word."

"But you understood me, didn't you?" Kass fixed his eyes on Mittens. She had been grooming herself. Beyond just bathing, her scent was different. "And, besides, you smell good. Not that you don't normally!" He added quickly after seeing her raise an eyebrow. "It's just that you now smell more… floral."

They spent some time in silence, Mittens just wishing that Kass would leave her to continue with her stuff. Time was ticking, and Bolt was still looking for her. When it passed one and a half minutes, Kass opened his eyes and mouth in amazement.

"No! Are you doing what I _think_ you're doing?" He inquired, taking a step towards her.

"And what would that be?" She asked, her patience really on the line.

"You want to…? With Bolt...? Like… tonight?!"

Mittens rolled her eyes and sighed with exasperation while shaking her head slightly.

"It's true then! You'll…!"

"Yes, I want to impress him!" She shouted as low as she could, trying to point him out that he was bothering her, but equally trying not to be heard by Bolt. "Happy now?"

"Oh, yes. Consider it done." Kass told her ignoring the shout and her tone

"Now what are you talking about?"

"Well, if I know anything about you, is that you will want to take your time," He said, referring to girls more than to cats. "And that normally doesn't take, well, little time. So, you're welcome by the way, I will distract Bolt until you're ready for him. How much are we talking about, an hour? Two?"

Mittens slowly removed her frown and smiled gently at Kass.

"Well…"

* * *

Bolt was still running everywhere, looking for Mittens, when he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, Bolt, what are you doing?"

"Hi, Kass," He answered without even looking back. "I'm looking for Mittens. I haven't seen her and I'm worried."

The cat smiled slyly.

"In my humble opinion, you–" He placed himself in front of the dog to keep him from still. "–are worrying too much. She's strong, independent and managed for a while without you, right?" Bolt nodded. "Well, I think she'll manage without you a little more."

"B-But what if…?"

"We are a team, that no more than forty-eight hours ago destroyed a dark organization and a monster. If she were to be attacked by dogs or any other thing, she could've called us, and would have, called us. That if she couldn't have handled it by herself, which I doubt."

Bolt fixed his eyes on the floor, Kass still facing him. The cat knew his arguments were solid, and he was glad when the dog sighed in defeat.

"Okay… but then, please, distract me a little."

Kass smiled. "Very well; I think I have got the perfect way."

* * *

"Care to tell me where we are going?"

"To a useful place for you," The cat answered without slowing his pace. "Here it is."

The dog stopped besides the cat. They had entered the city and were outside a meat store, and Bolt managed to deduce why the cat had taken him there.

"This is where you got the fish from?"

"Yes, it is. And I'm trusting you with the location of this place for your personal use. Don't abuse of it; if you give her too much, it won't be special anymore." Kas warned as Bolt observed the store.

"Thanks, Kass." The dog looked at the store a few more seconds before aiming up to observe that the sky was almost completely darkened. "Can we go home now?"

The cat gave it a few seconds before responding. "Yes, we can." As he got going, he came up with something else. "But we'll go pick up flowers on the way."

"Uh… flowers?" Bolt echoed. "For what?"

Kass stared at him. "For killing a dragon, Bolt. For Mittens, you dumb–!" The cat stopped himself when he saw the dog's confused look. "Ugh. Look, I'll give you _another_ advice. Give her some flowers occasionally, or an unexpected gift, even if it's not a special date. Surprise her, she'll like it." Then he lowered his voice enough for the dog not to comprehend. "Today in particular she _will thank you_."

"Where are we going to get the flowers?"

"That's why I brought you with me," The cat remarked. "You've seen where to get her meat and fish. Now, I'll show you where to get her flowers."

Bolt followed Kass as he moved around, heeding the idea that all of it was for Mittens.

* * *

With the dim light of the moon over the entire garden, a white shepherd was just returning home. He was alone, carrying a rose on his snout. He preferred to ignore how he had gotten it. The orange cat had left him a couple of houses away from his and the poor canine couldn't understand what was that all for.

"Bolt," A voice called him suddenly. Unmistakably Mittens'. The dog was glad to finally see her again, but when he found her, he was impressed. The cat had groomed, a lot, her black fur shone in the silver light and it had a very pleasant aroma on it. The dog felt his heart speed up and got nervous.

"Mi-Mittens," He managed to say, after placing the flower on the floor in front of him. "Y-You look… are… s-so…"

"Yes?" She asked in a flirtatious tone as she walked towards him. "So what, Bolt?"

He couldn't answer. He couldn't even take his eyes off her as she walked coquettishly towards him. When she was close enough, she looked down at the flower he had left on the ground.

"What is this?" The cat asked, playing an innocent role and with her same voice tone.

"Uh… Oh, I… brought it for you," The dog managed to articulate after a few seconds, before bending over the flower, picking it with his mouth and offering it to her.

Mittens accepted the gift with a smile, took it between her white paws and smelled its scents, closing her eyes as she did so. "Bolt," She said softly when she was done. "Where did you get a rose? How did you know I liked them?"

"Eh… Intuition?" He answered nervously, trying to hide as much as possible whatever help he had received from his orange friend to pick which flower.

Mittens looked at him with an indecipherable expression. For a few seconds, in which no one moved, Bolt feared he had made her angry for some reason. Then she began to purr and lay her head on his chest to nuzzle him for a few seconds, before stepping away, looking confused.

"Bolt… you smell like lavender."

Although her tone wasn't inquisitive or questioning, the dog quickly sought for an excuse.

"Uh, well… I… I fell into some of that while looking for the flower. Didn't see where I was walking and…"

He stopped when her eyes met his. She was watching him expectantly, not a single hint of suspicion or anything similar. It even seemed like she was encouraging him to finish his brief tale. Bolt couldn't.

"No," He said, lowering his head. "It was not my idea, Mittens. Kass took me to the city, to get the flower; he told me which one to choose and to wallow in lavender. It was he who got you the salmon yesterday, and without me asking… just so you wouldn't be mad anymore. I'm so sorry, Mittens, but I don't want to lie to you."

Bolt closed his eyes, almost expecting to have maddened her again. But there was no sound whatsoever, and after a few seconds he felt her head rubbing against his chest. He opened his eyes, surprised, and saw her opening hers too, with a smile on her face.

"Bolt, do you really think I didn't know?" She asked, completely calm. "The flower, the perfume, the fish… where would you have gotten all those without help, puppy? Truth is that while I chased you I realized it was nothing, that I had got mad for something unimportant. When Mega gave you away so easily, I figured they had planned something, so I played along. And I liked the salmon a lot, I hadn't had that in a long time.

Bolt was perplexed. "Y-You knew?"

"But I liked the most when you told me the truth, wags," She added, ignoring his question and sinking her head back into Bolt's chest, purring loudly.

Bolt held her in between his arms for the next seconds. She had known all along; yes, the cat was insightful. Then he smiled. He didn't need to impress her or pretend to be someone he wasn't. Though he would have Kass' advices in consideration for future events. He closed his eyes and lowered his head to reach Mittens' height.

"I love you," He whispered in her ear.

"I love you too," She replied in the same, shushed, sweet tone.

He held her for a few minutes, before she got away from his embrace. She seemed to have remembered something and smiled at the dog flirtatiously as she passed her tail through his neck.

"You know something? Today is Saint Valentine's day…" She mentioned, moving to his ear to whisper, "And I think I should thank you for everything you've ever done for me."

Bolt felt his heart race once more and blushed as nervousness took over again. "W-What do you have in mind, Mittens?"

The cat pretended to be thinking. "Gee, I don't know… Maybe I could start with this," She answered simply before approaching his face and kissing him. Unlike all the previous times, there was not only love in that kiss, but passion, and slowly it passed on to Bolt.

When she broke the kiss, Bolt took the initiative and kissed her again, as passionate as the previous one. This time it lasted until they were lacking air, and that's exactly why they broke it. Then Mittens smiled seductively.

"Well, well, well, it looks like the doggy wants to play," She told him, walking around him, her tail always brushing against his body.

Bolt still felt a little nervous, but her was starting to relax. In the kissing time, he had decided that he would let Mittens teach him, so he smiled back when she was facing him again.

"Come with me," She said before giving him another short kiss. "And remember that I love you, no matter what."

After the dog nodded, Mittens turned and trailed her tail through Bolt's collar before moving forward, leading him to the barn, the dog letting himself be guided by her. They disappeared through the barn's doors, which closed moments later.

In the distance, on a tree, an orange figure had seen about everything.

"Well, it wasn't _exactly_ as I planned, but who cares?" He said alone. "Happy Valentine's, lovebirds."

* * *

The next morning Bolt opened his eyes to find Mittens curled up in between his arms. She looked very peaceful and purred softly. He admired her for a while, until he heard his friends' voices outside. That's when he kissed her forehead.

"Mittens," He whispered in her ear. "It's late."

Unlike last time, she slowly opened her eyes and yawned before fixing her eyes on Bolt.

"Good morning, wags."

"Good morning, pretty."

Mittens kissed him shortly and then jumped from him, getting out of the pile of straw they were in to stretch. When she was done, Bolt looked at her for a moment.

"So… that's how kids are made," He said, remembering the previous night.

Mittens nodded. "Though it's not a sure thing always. Last night I was thinking more about having fun than kittens. We have some new responsibilities now, remember?"

The cat's comment baffled Bolt. She was right, now he, she, and their best friend were a pillar of light and in charge of taking care of the surroundings with the team. How could they ever have a family? If something wrong happened nearby, the puppies… kittens, whatever, would have to spend time without their parents; or they could become targets of entities like Centauri or the dark pillar they had faced.

With all of that spinning in his head, he barely noticed Mittens standing in front of him, staring.

"Bolt?"

The dog shook his head. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

He took no more than a second to decide to tell her about his new worry. It was something that concerned her after all.

"I'm not sure we could ever have… kids with this responsibility." He concluded.

The cat lowered her head for a few seconds, thoughtful. "You know what?" She said at last. "Let it be." Her tone was comforting. "We don't know if something like that will happen, if I'll come to bear your children after last night of if we'll have to try again. I don't think it makes sense to worry about things that have not happened, wags. Besides, if we ever decide it's been enough, we can quit the pillar; Rhino would know how to manage it, and we would still be able to help him."

Bolt sighed; she really knew how to calm him. "As always, you're right."

The cat smiled and licked his cheek. "Come one, they are waiting for us."

* * *

The group was already playing when they joined in. The day was basically that: playing. Tag, hide-and-seek, riddles, whatever, anything. No one could deny that it was much quieter than facing shadows or mounting patrols, planning rescues or carrying out attacks. That all belonged to the past now. Would it ever happen again? None of them knew, but for the moment, they would enjoy the friendships this adventure had brought them, as well as they much-deserved rest. Just like the day before, by the time the sun was setting and the sky turning dark, everyone was lying on the grass, telling stories, until there was a call for someone.

"Penny! Dinner!"

"Well, gotta go," The girl said, half to herself, while getting up. "See you tomorrow, guys."

The group dismissed her with a unanimous "Goodbye" and she entered the house.

Inside, Mrs. Forrester's voice called her from the kitchen. "Before you come eat, do me a favor. Go up to our rooms and bring me down the towels to wash them, honey."

Penny complied happily. She went upstairs and got her mother's towel first. When she went to her room to get hers she found something that hadn't been there before. In fact, it was something she had never seen. She took a closer look and found herself breathless.

On her bed, well extended and well-placed, lay clothes for her, just like those Soul had worn when in life. Penny shrieked in excitement, but at the same time found no logical explanation for the existence of such garments. Soul, number one, was dead, number two, was not allowed to interact with the physical world until he had paid off his debt and, number three, had left with Beta. Where had this come from then?

A folded paper was lying on top of the clothes. The girl took it and found a note inside, with a pretty messy handwriting, that she immediately linked to Soul for no real reason. _'Then, I'll explain, lioness,'_ Said the first sentence. As she read the rest of the note she realized she was almost living what Soul had lived so long ago. Her clothes had also "self-repair" and "self-cleaning"; however, some things were actually different. Primarily, unlike his clothes, hers varied in tones of toasted sienna, with the exception of the cloak, which had conserved it brown hue. _'For camouflage reasons,'_ The paper explained. They were her size, too and fit her body perfectly. There were no boots for her, _'Because you're not going to live as a hermit,'_ the paper said.

Forgetting about everything else, the girl tried on those clothes as soon as she finished reading the note. Then, she took the staff, now hers, and went straight to the mirror to see herself. She looked pretty good. While playing with her gift, posing in front of the mirror, she found a small mark very close to one of the staff's crystals. It seemed engraved in the wood and could be easily read: "Psyon". Funny part was that just under that name another small mark seemed to be appearing.

"Penny! Dinner and towels, please!" He mother's voice interrupted.

"Yes, mom! Coming!"

The girl went back to get the towels, leaving the staff in the process and then went downstairs with her mother.

"Where did you get that?" The woman asked when she saw her daughter.

"Soul," was the only word Penny had to say.

Mrs. Forrester just nodded and took the towels from her.

"Mom, when I'm done, can I go outside with the guys again?"

Her mother took a few seconds to respond, "Yes, you can. But don't stay outside too late."

Penny thanked her quickly and had her dinner. Once done, she went outside, to show and explain her new clothes to the rest.

"At the end it said it was a gift from him." She added at the end of her little story.

"You were not the only one." Rhino pointed out.

"What are you talking about?" She asked to him.

"I found something in the barn. Come." Bolt answered, standing up.

Upon opening the building's door there was another surprise. Inside the barn there were lying, mere meters from the entrance, a pile of no less than eighteen bones.

"We found a note too, Mega's," He said. "He said he had owed me for several months and that he had no plans of leaving without paying his debt."

"Well, I say we don't waste time trying to figure how they did it," Kass proposed.

There was no objection and they all lay down on the garden, leaving Bolt's bones where they had been found. The full moon bathed them all in its gray light, turning the grass and their pelts to silver, as well as the girl's new clothes. They looked at it for a while in silence.

"Who would have said that the adventure came to an end," Rhino said, almost to quiet to be heard, after a few minutes.

There were some murmurs of agreement with the hamster, but Penny kept her words for when they all had quieted down again.

"You know? I spent several months without being able to interact with anyone but Soul." She paused briefly, recalling those days. "And I can almost hear what he would have said on your comment, Rhino."

Everyone placed their attention on Penny.

"What… would it be?" Peep asked.

The girl smiled, remembering to quote Soul correctly, on one of those things he had said while she had been prisoner to her mind. "'There is no such thing as end, because whenever an adventure ends, another one will begin. Each day has another one, and each day will have its night, like each night will have its day. The only 'end' would be death, but look at me, I'm still here, so you can be sure that an 'end' does not exist. It all works like a good ol' videogame: you learn, get experience, you unlock new things to try and when you're done, you level up. Infinitely throughout existence, achieving unimaginable things using tools as friendship, love and balance –among others–. And this is becoming too long to make it a famous quote, so I'll stop here, just consider it. Oh, one more thing: Enjoy it; us humans tend to take life too seriously. Life is meant to be fun'."

"Well," Kass muttered, trying not to break the silence that formed afterwards. "The guy knew what he was saying…"

"Almost always," Penny put in. "He had ups and downs."

"Well, that was an up. A very up," Flor pointed out.

"'Life is meant to be fun'," Bolt repeated. "What do you guys say? Should we listen to him?"

The answers the shepherd got varied, but all of them were positive. Everyone agreed with Soul.

"We might as well start looking at the night sky," Alpha suggested. "It's romantic and beautiful to watch."

There were grunts of approval and everyone just kept watching at it. Everyone was thinking of something different by the time, but all thoughts reached towards the same conclusion. "Enjoy."

* * *

" _There is no such thing as end, because whenever an adventure ends, another one will begin. Each day has another one, and each day will have its night, like each night will have its day(…)Infinitely throughout existence, achieving unimaginable things using tools as friendship, love and balance(…)"_

* * *

 **The end. Yes, you heard me, it is the end.**

 **NOW! News! Welp, I've got a chapter full of curiosities and stories about this story in the oven, you know, like when after a movie or book is released that the author/director(s) tell some things in interviews or so? Well, yes... sort of. Anyway, we'll be seeing each other again soon, yes in this story, so I'm not giving a goodbye yet, though you could say yours to the characters and story itself, since... you know, it's over now. Anyway, you guys have my forever thanks for letting me bring this story to you and from reading it whole... because yes, 64 chapters is a damn lot. Nos vemos pronto, you can be sure of that, I've still got a couple cards under my sleeve, guys.  
**


	65. Curiosities and Credits 1

Curiosities and credits (part 1)

Aright, this is going to be a little more casual. I'm going to address you all along through these chapters, and I'm almost going to ask you where you live. My objective with the questions is to get some (more) feedback from you guys regarding several things in the fanfic. Well, let's do it.

But! I'm going to tell you something before. Three things. First, questions in italics, I would like to hear an answer to them in your reviews, all of them are opinions, like I said, I want to know what you guys think. Second, not now, but I will check and correct every chapter of the story. I did this in Spanish and then translated the corrected version, but I did screw up a couple times along the way; I'll look for grammatical mistakes to fix, and when I do you'll notice if you read the story again, for I'll leave a small message at the end of every chapter that I correct.

Third:

I want to thank everyone for following this fic. Man, I can't believe it, by now (May 11, 2018) I have 20 followers, 21 favorites and over 130 reviews! Man... I mean, Man, that's more of everything that I got in the original language! I _have_ to thank Basbon profusely… dude, you were here since the very beginning and reviewed **every single chapter.** Just every one of them, man. Without you… I started translating because of a review I got in the Spanish version, but man… I'm not sure that user even read it; but you… you were there. I can't ever possibly thank you enough for that. Yes, I made you wait sometimes, but were still here when I got back, so just thank you. From the bottom of my pretty small-ish heart, thank you. ShadowScare, you first reviewed as guest if I'm not remembering wrong, and then you started using that account to leave your reviews. From then on you were on every chapter and I also have to give you a huge thank you from the other bottom of my little tiny heart. Thanks to both of you, wouldn't have made it without you.

Hey, but there's more! TheMattdude also reviewed for some chapters, as did starfiction123, Wooling Mations, tOSdude, thehound360, Projectslang1, CaMinz, demoforce, vburro08… you guys did also review, some of you more than others, some of you in the same chapter or not, but I'm sure I wouldn't have hit 132 reviews if you hadn't done so… so thank you as well, for giving me a little push towards the next chapter.

But hey, there's _even more_. I mentioned 21 followers (favorites, whatever, same thing), and I have 64 chapters, one just uploaded when I'm writing this. Now 64x21 is 1,344… but as of today (same date as above) I have no less than 5,718 views of my story! So, either you guys read it like four times each or I have some ghostly followers somewhere. And I see readers from the US, Norway, Italy, Iceland, South Africa, China, The Russian Federation, Brazil, Phillipines, Germany, Argentina, Canada and Mexico! (that last one is probably me, checking my chapters to see that they were uploaded correctly). And yes, perhaps some of them just landed randomly on the story, didn't like it and left, but hey, I still want to thank everyone who's ever done anything related to the story, reading one chapter or the whole of it. I would have loved to have received a review from everyone, but hey, I'm not disappointed at all, can't have it all. Now, after this looooong thank you, on we go, to our curiosities section.

 **About the characters:**

Everything after this point is related to my OC's, in order of appearance and relevance.

 **Mega, Byte and Helang.**

I've been managing these three for a while. I have a story, that I never wrote, about a traveler who looked around the world for agents to recruit for the light. But he couldn't on his own, so he had the help of three of his students. They are my very first OC's ever and since I considered the idea of writing fanfiction it was decided that they would be involved, keeping some differences with their original versions.

Mega and Byte kept their names, but on that other story they were chimeras both, though right now I would consider making her a hydra. Their personalities and relationship (siblings) was the same. Helang, on the other hand, had no name, and was a phoenix bird. To keep the fantasy at bay in this fanfic, those creatures were changed into wolves and a hawk, which are from my favorite animals. Helang is a lot bigger than I originally imagined, and perhaps than what you imagined too, but I'll explain that later. While I describe Mega to have dark gray fur with a slight tone of blue and Byte to have light gray and slightly yellow, whenever I think of them I normally either pick plain gray or plain blue and yellow.

On the sketch of this story I had figured they would be past their problems (which they don't actually manage until Centauri locks them), and that they would be fully mastered in their respective skills and have even some more. That's because my original idea was just the six of them (Our three favorite pets and these three) against the world. The idea was discarded (of course)

 **Alpha, Delta and Kass**

As I mentioned, six against the darkness, and my OC's with more skills than they were actually given. What does this have to do with Alpha, Delta and Kass? They were the same! (Originally) That came from a necessity of the three to approach the pets without telling them about the whole shadow thing, so they would change their appearance to get close to them first. That's why, when introducing themselves, both Kass and Helang bow. Mega would take Delta's form and Byte would take Alpha's.

When in Spanish, I first described Alpha to be chocolate-colored, and Delta to be golden-yellowish; however, I always imagined them the other way around, so I changed it before translating the story. Labrador retriever is their breed, because I like it.

Kass, when he starts skipping training, I had planned that he would be just a lazy cat (Well… a normal cat I guess) that would "discover his potential" on the final battle. However, when the "gray" concept came into play, it was changed so that the cat could expose this point of view. However, as lazy as I had planned him, it was always meant that he would be strong and agile in combat, and just wouldn't want to train more, and hence the runaways. The fact that he can talk to his father even after his death denotes the strong connection they had. His physical appearance as well as his name are based on a cat I had… He went away :(

 **Beta and Flor**

The dynamic duo of girls was not contemplated at the beginning, let alone that one of them (along with her siblings) were the adoptive kids of an immature wolf. I first thought of them as one he and one she, but I realized there were few female characters, so there you go.

Flor was the name the shadow used to hurt Mittens on her nightmare the first time they met. Then, when I started needing more characters I took back the name and actually gave it a character, making it look (I think) like it was all planned along. Well, it wasn't, and that's why in her nightmare Mittens can't tell which breed Flor is, because it was just a name and nothing more at the moment.

Beta wasn't planned to be siblings with Alpha and Delta, but since I couldn't think of another breed, I made her the same as those two and linked their pasts together.

 **Jonathan and Pepe**

Like 90% of the OC's, they were not, considered at the beginning. I thought of showing them as a proof of mind-body complementation, commonly seen in series and movies in the typical bully-nerd friendship. Both get along well, but obviously Jonathan is body, while Pepe, with his gift and curse of seeing the world in his own way, is the mind. They can work together to achieve many things, but this is not displayed, since Jonathan takes on a parental role over Pepe and would rather protect him than fight besides him. Diego, when meeting Penny, tells her that they won't attack Mittens because they both grew up with cats, but neither mentions that on their pasts. It's because it never happened; but Pepe became very passive when his head was hit and Jonathan swore never to take a life unless necessary, so neither had a reason to attack cats when in a park or so, making both Diego and Fer believe that they probably had grown up among cats.

For Jonathan I chose and Alaskan Malamute, breed that I liked from the first time I saw; name I took from my head, though, not based on anyone or anything else. Though, when I first wrote about him –In Spanish–, I made the terrible mistake of describing him twice as big as Bolt, which was a TERRBLE MISTAKE. Bolt is a White American Shepherd, which goes by the size of a German Shepherd; Alaskan Malamutes are barely a couple inches taller. If he had been twice his size, Jonathan would be reaching the height of the wolves, and would have been an enormous dog. Sizes and heights, we'll get to them in a moment.

Pepe is based on three dogs I know. Breed and color comes from a dog my grandmother had. The little creature came to her house when I was one year old and died about 3 ago. Lived a veeery long life and we were very close, hence Pepe is half Fox Terrier. Now, in the fanfic I mention he is half-bred, but the truth is that I never, not even after writing _twice_ everything, decided his other breed, and that's why I always refer to him as the "half-bred". Name comes from a dog from a friend of mine, who was a stray until he adopted it. From him I also borrowed the absence of fur around his nose, because since they found him, Pepe (real one) had no hair there. Part of the cigarette burns come from him, too, but also from a dog an uncle of mine has. Stray, too, and he had the cigarette marks on ear and tail-tips (Which I added to the character too), and with serious damage to his head. The animal is very happy, but somewhat clumsy and there's no way to train it; doesn't know how to jump and has two modes: still or coffee-charged-like-active. But, like the OC, he's happy and lives his own world. I modified his name into the story, calling him "Peep" instead of Pepe; I wasn't sure how common the original name would be (In my country is quite popular), so I decided to adapt it into something more… enlglish-ish, I guess?

 **Umbra and Lux**

"Shadow and Light" in Latin, literally. With the help of Kass, these two introduced the concept of "gray" to the team, and that it is plausible. Not contemplated at the beginning. Once I decided they would exist, one was meant to be a she, but I left it in two he's, though specters don't actually have a gender. They are very passive characters and don't interact too much with the others; they're only seen in combat once or twice and never with much detail. However, both are strong rivals and have much more power than Helang, they just agreed not to use it.

Umbra was created by a dark organization previous to Centauri's, but whoever did it didn't know of soldier shadows or didn't have enough darkness for one, because they created a free, clean one that fled as soon as it could. Lux is the residue of a pillar of light that previously lived in the area; both are around 500 years old, from which most of them they have known each other.

The house where they live was once a place where they took refuge and cared for the family that lived there during the 19th century. They saw the city, they saw the place become part of the New Spain, its independence among with other territories and also how it became part of the United States, but never left their home. During a war the last descendants of such family died, leaving the house in hands of them. Several times it was attempted to demolish or modernize the property, but the specters scared away the people and gave rise to a legend of two ghosts that inhabited the house.

Genesis met Umbra and Lux on his trip to California and they gave him the crystals and showed him to the "ironwood" that now form Soul's staff. They are the only two beings, besides the owner of such weapon, that can handle it properly and without the object refusing to cooperate.

Both of them made a vow of silence, long before meeting Kass, in order to both develop more skills and find more knowledge. They communicate with other beings in different ways, Morse code one of them.

 **Soul**

To put an end to it, the team leader was not contemplated at the beginning. It was necessary that the wolves and hawk had someone to turn to when they didn't know what to do (this role was originally for Helang). In other words, he was added to be one step above in knowledge to my original OC's; however, he is not the top. Soul, in the physical world is very wise and powerful, but upon reaching the nonphysical one he is one of the lowest ones on the scale. This is because my intention was to show that no matter how good you are or how much you know, there will always be someone that can teach you more. He is the OC with more ways of calling him (Soul, Psyon, Eddy, Master). His nickname "Psyon" comes from "Psi" which is a Greek letter and a term used to refer of things related to psychic abilities.

His design is based on this traveler I mentioned earlier with Mega, Byte and Helang, and that one is inspired upon people I know (yes, a bit of me, too). I also grabbed some characteristics from masters like Obi-wan, Yoda, and masters Oogway and Shifu, for saying some; like you may have seen, he behaves differently in different moments. He tends to take this role of Master with the pets and seeks to teach them, but with Penny he behaves more like equals, as if she were his sister (Nope, there's no secret behind that and she is not), so he plays with her besides teaching her. There are subtle changes, but they exist.

Finally, as soon as I decided that Soul would exist in the fanfic I also decided that he would be dead, because the help he could give and the things he could do would seem better like that. He is the first character to die in the story and the only protagonist to reach that end. His past is the only one I had planned since I designed the character.

 _So, which of my protagonists did you like the most and why?_

Let's go with our antagonists now.

 **The shadows (Ed and Flor's)**

Ed was the first shadow to appear ever. He was the one that tried to make Bolt leave home and show Mittens an image of Bolt and Flor; he also attempted into Rhino's mind, which didn't go as planned. Shadows do not have a definite size or shape, but Ed in particular goes by the 1.5, 1.6 meters (don't know exactly in English measures… but should be around five feet) in height. He is described to have three "holes" making up for his eyes and mouth, but this only applies when he is on the floor or in a wall. Whenever he is "3D", these orifices are filled with energy and change into a color that distinguishes them from the rest of his body.

Originally, Ed was the leader of the dark organization. That idea went to trash quickly, since Rhino beat him in his dreams with no training whatsoever; pretty good for a dark leader! His number (73964CKEDW) includes the letters "E" and "D" and together so that he could have been called Ed when he was purified, an idea that arose almost as soon as the other one was discarded. As for body-mind, Ed has advantage in mind, but doesn't neglect the body part, though his complexion doesn't quite help there. He had a squadron under his command at the beginning of the story, which he lost when he failed to find Mega, Byte and Helang.

Flor's shadow didn't live through the end of the fanfic, but it had a considerable role in some aspects, the beginning of the relationship between Bolt and Mittens, for example. It was a shadow of common range and considerably young, but loyal to its organization and leader. Impulsive and aggressive, making Flor as much when they shared a body. Only Beta stood near them in that time. It also had a lot of determination of proving itself worthy, better than anyone and thus earning the name of one of the "Legendary Shadows" from Centauri's time. In the end, its loyalty and determination made it commit suicide in an attempt to create trouble between the shepherd and the cat. This is the second character to die.

 **Ben**

Only one thing to say about him: He disappeared. He was mentioned on the early chapters as one of Centauri's subordinates. However, by the end of the story nothing has been known of him since he helped clean the debris of the building after the team escaped; nor it is ever mentioned what kind of shadow or creature it is. (Now say with me, du-ru-ru-ruuuu, cliff-han-ger!)

 **The elite shadow and Ed's students (Shade, Alex, James and Bud)**

The elite shadow emerged with a similar purpose than Soul's: someone who could do things that the main antagonist couldn't. It is cocky and arrogant, but powerful nonetheless. It was Ed's series-mate, meaning they were created in nearby dates and raised together. However, the latter didn't achieve as much as the first one, so they were put apart soon after. Its complexion is much stronger than Ed's, but in return it only thinks with cleverness when it needs to. Its dead at the paws of Kass was because I wanted to give it an unexpected end. Could've been the pillar, could've lived, could've been any third-part of the pillar… the orange cat had nothing to do with it, and I thought that he killed the shadow by biting on its neck repeatedly, because he was the one most attuned with the "gray" concept.

Shade, Alex, James and Bud were not born until Ed is forbidden to go out again because of screwing up. Originally, only one of them was going to exist (Shade), but I realized I was going to need more characters to be with him and thus James, Bud and Alex appeared. James and Bud follow a strong-agile friendship, and Alex and Shade are the mind part of the group; Alex as the strategist and Shade as a walking encyclopedia. This results into a complete team, although inexperienced (and incomplete, since there was a shortage of dark energy when they were born, resulting in incomplete soldiers, more likely to want to leave the conflict aside). Had they completed their training, and had they not been incomplete and our protagonists would have had it much harder.

 **Kia and Erin**

The antagonistic duo of animals. Though they don't finish the story being as much, they were villains until almost the very end.

Erin originally had one function: Attack Bolt when he gets lost (Chapter 4). He was not going to appear again, and I'm not sure how I decided to place him with the shadows. His name comes from Erin Hunter, who is the author of a saga of books I love. Perhaps you've heard of it: "Warriors" (Or Warrior cats), and if you haven't, boy I recommend you to go read them. Because he wasn't going to appear again, I gave little importance to his appearance until Soul officially welcomed him to the team. His past is unclear yet, except that Genesis helped to his birth and that he killed his father in an anger burst.

Kia was an instant invention: They were looking for Bolt, a small battle with the shadows, (Chapter 39) and I thought "Well, if there's going to be a confrontation, how do they come out of that one? He can't recover his memory so soon." So I thought about it until I decided to introduce a character to save their skins, and made it a female and fall in love with Bolt to make it more interesting. Now, when I named her I had no idea there was a car company called "Kia Motors"; her name actually came from Kiara, Simba's daughter, and cut of two letters from it. Her past is never mentioned on purpose. Her motto would be "Give up on all hope; if you don't expect anything from anyone, you'll never be disappointed," and that was forged by her past. That's why, when she meets Bolt and the others, she tells them she doesn't expect anything from that place.

The original plan was to kill Erin in the final battle and that Kia would flee from it after seeing Centauri fall, ready to lead the shadows in a sequel. However, that was changed because I now have plans for both of them in the team, and it seemed to me that they had earned the affection of the readers.

 **Centauri**

If Soul has speckles of me on him, then Centauri has speckles of a friend of mine on him, too. We are both as crazy as the other and pretty similar in some other aspects. It took me some time to decide whether he would be human or not, as well as his age, because I had considered that Centauri could've killed Soul's parents and that he was on a typical revenge journey (Which didn't happen)

Centauri would be the body part, Soul being the mind. The guy trains hard and keeps himself in good shape, but only meditates as much as he needs to not have an ordinary mind. His reasoning, calculating and foreseeing are his own abilities, enhanced by the presence of the dark pillar within him. After his first confrontation with Soul, he considered joining darkness for a while, but when they broke his heart he began to sink into madness and jealousy… we all know how that ended. Centauri had no idea the dark pillar was inside him until a few days before the battle; he had always believed that he alone had accomplished everything. He murdered shadows before becoming leader of the organization and was effectively responsible for the deaths of some of Soul's old comrades.

The ring he wore, with the red gem, was a gift from Genesis prior to his death. Because of sharing the same creator, the ring and the staff were "cousins"; this is why the ring disobeys Centauri when he wants to take control of the staff, and the staff merely pretended. It was the only time the ring disobeyed its rightful owner. Centauri only wore that ring when he was starting to feel desperate and that's why he pulls it out almost at the end of it.

Centauri is the name of the solar system closer to ours (Alpha Centauri), about 4 light-years away, and that's what he and Soul used to design his nickname. It is never mentioned what his real name is.

 **The dark pillar**

This monster appeared in my head with one purpose: I wanted from the beginning for Soul and Centauri to face each other. However, if they did, what was the purpose of the pillar of light? Simple: Centauri would be the shell to something worse.

This thing has no name and a lot of power. It is probably about the same age as Umbra and Lux, with the difference that it is not any kind of shadow met before.

Though I described it in detail, its image wasn't clear in my mind until it was time to say it in the story. In the end I believe I achieved my goal of making it look like a monster, and a strong one as well, since it almost defeated the team itself. (They were tired already, give them a chance…)

 _Which antagonist was your favorite?_

 **Other curiosities**

These involve many of the OC's in some way or didn't fit in the previous sections:

I was planning to add three more OC's, consisting of a group of stray females under the leadership of a Siberian husky. They may appear if there's a sequel.

Originally there would be no more romances than Bolt and Mittens'. Afterward, I chose to make everyone find a mate (Yay!); and both ideas were discarded to give into a middle point, and although no other romances appear here there are already two or three couples in that team waiting to be called forward.

I quite considered the possibility that Soul would be Penny's age, and that she would fall in love with him even if he was dead.

 **Regarding shadows and lights**

There are many things unclear about these specters, some deliberately. However, here are some curious facts about them in general.

They have no gender. If you noticed, I refer to them as "it", not "he" or "she", unless they are leaving their programming aside, or want to. This is funny, because in Spanish we don't have an "it", so something is either "She" (Ella/La) or "He" (Él/El), and in spanish, both shadow and light are she's (La sombra/La luz), buuuut, specter is a he (El espectro), which makes it a lot of fun, when you can call them in both ways, when they are actually none of them.

They don't have legs by nature forming; they can develop them, focusing their energy onto it. For that same reason, most of them have never felt the grass, or know how to walk or run. Only inside an animal host they can feel and learn, or by making their own legs.

Shadows and lights do not die naturally. Either they are killed, or starve. Since they are energy, they consume energy and discard energy as well.

Their anatomy is curious. They have no organs whatsoever, and only to centers to stabilize the energy that makes their bodies: one in the head and another one in the chest, like brain and heart. It is rare, but some of them develop a thin and transparent layer that forms their "skin". Whether or not they have skin, if anyone touched them, they would feel smooth and probably warm. The energy travels freely through their bodies; they have no veins or arteries to direct it. If they were to stand still, the energy in their bodies would still be moving, and it is perceivable by others. They consume energy by their mouths… and discard waste through them as well.

Normally when a shadow or light receive an attack (bite, scratch, etc.) they simply lose some energy in that area and that's it. However, when ygró occurs, the energy of the environment behaves differently, causing their body to function differently too. In those times and wound the specter receives will be like a real one, causing them not only to lose energy but, if it's a wound that would puncture the skin of any other entity, they will begin to spill liquid energy from the wound until closed. The energy lost is absorbed by the environment once ygró is over. Talking about kicks, blows and so, their energy isn't affected much, but their regulation centers are, since the only protection they have are a small cage for each (Skull and ribs), so too many attacks of this type, well aimed, could damage their centers, destabilizing the specter and, well, killing it.

Their heads, number of eyes, complexion, size in general or other physical characteristics vary on the circumstances they were born or where do they come from.

 **Now, regarding the sizes:**

(For this part I made research and everything, so the sizes are averages to their breeds "height at the withers" and all those things used to measure animals)

For some reason I imagined Bolt as a small dog; probably because in the movie they picture him like that, not as tall as he should be. The guy's a White American Shepherd, which is basically a German Shepherd in white. However, Penny manages to lift him without much effort, and he is shown to be slightly taller than Mittens, when the cat should only reach about his knees. By the time I translated that had been fixed, but originally I had described almost everyone on the team taller than him, when in fact he is one of the tallest. However, they said that they had made modifications to that breed in order to make Bolt, so I'll assume from now on that he is just a small specimen from his breed.

Now, talking of size, the order would be like this (Only including animals, and I'll describe them to you again so that you may picture them more or less like I do):

Rhino is the smallest one (No shit, Sherlock!). Assuming he were a Syrian hamster he would be about 10 centimeters tall, maybe a little more. Perhaps he'll reach the ankle of a person.

Next come both cats: Mittens and Kass. No matter how much I searched, couldn't find the height of any breed of cat, but it is no mystery that they are not very tall. I gave them 22 and 25 cm at the withers respectively. Kass is bicolor; all his external looks (Back, sides, head and legs) are orange. Interally, (Belly, neck chin and the interior of his legs) is white. His eyes are green-yellowish. His name means "Cat" in Estonian.

Next is Pepe, with 28cm to the withers. He is to be a mix of Fox Terrier and Maltese (Just remembered), with medium fur, not too short or long and almost completely white, with three of four big mud-colored spots scattered on his back and sides, as well as in his ears but not touching his eyes. He has scars from burns on the tips of both ears and tail, and he lacks almost all the fur around his nose, leaving his pink skin visible. He has pointy ears and his eyes are brown.

Kia, the vixen capable of teleporting, is next, with 31cm to her withers. As a specimen of gray fox, she is not red-orange like we all assume when we think of "fox"; her back, sides, chest, head, chin, tail and belly are mostly gray, with a faint trace of ocher color, which becomes the only hue on her legs and paws. Her tail is fluffy and ends in a black tip; her eyes are dark brown.

Erin's next, more commonly known as "The Pitbull". His size is around 45cm to his withers. His fur is dark gray, almost black and is everywhere, except for a white, big, irregular spot that goes from his neck to his chest. His ears are droopy. His body is covered in scars and wounds from battles in the streets; the most representative is the one on his face, right between both eyes, the one Mega gave him the day he attacked Bolt. His height at the withers would be reaching the lowest part of the knee in an adult.

Next is Flor, with 53cm at the withers. She reaches an adult knee, and her head passes it, so from here on, you could pet them without having to bend over (Their heads at least). Her fur is similar to Kass' black outside and white inside, with the difference that she's white on all four legs and ever around her snout, with a thin line of that color passing between her eyes, which are dark brown. Her name means "Flower" in Spanish.

The Labrador Retriever siblings are next. Alpha with 55cm, Beta in 57cm and Delta in 58. Respectively, the color of their pelts is yellowish, brown and chocolate, uniform in all three. (Beta slightly lighter in tone than Delta). Their eyes are amber, honey and coffee-brown respectively too.

Bolt is next (You see?). Assuming he is small in his breed, he would be around 60cm at the withers, (Three times the size of Mittens). His height is well past the knee.

Jonathan follows. Alaskan Malamute as he is, his height is similar to Bolt's, but since he is a little bigger than the average I gave him 70cm at the withers. He has a white coat on his inside and his face, up to a little above his eyes. His back, sides and forehead are brown. His eyes are painted between green and brown, more the latter than the first.

Next are the twins, Mega and Byte, with 90 and 85 cm to their withers respectively. They almost reach someone's waist. Both of them are gray-colored; Mega darker than Byte. He has a slight blue pigmentation on his whole coat, and she has a yellow one. Brown eyes for both.

Now, here is where it gets interesting. Helang is a peregrine falcon. Since I discovered them, about when I was 6 years old, I fell in love with them, because I thought of them like "mini-eagles". Well, that's WRONG. Yes, they are smaller than eagles, but they're not tiny. Helang is described in the story as "a little taller than the average" and this means 60cm! (Not to the withers, to the head) This means that he is one of the biggest members of the team, that he reached Bolt's shoulder standing on the ground and that he could carry Rhino, Mittens or Kass, and even Pepe or Kia with his strength. Crazy, huh? Oh, and his name stands for "Hawk" in Malayan.

But hey, that's only what I found while searching for their breeds. It's not like they are forcefully like that or anything. Well, this was the first part of curiosities. Next one is about the chapters and the last one is about philosophical themes that I manage in the fanfic. Sorry for taking too long to update, but I really needed a small break. See you soon!


	66. Curiosities and Credits 2

Curiosities and credits (part 2)

Well, here's the second part of this, which consists of situations and inspirations (meaning, where did I get the inspiration for certain parts of the story), and I'm going chapter by chapter. I won't be writing "Chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3…" as subtitles in the same way I did with the characters, but they are approximately one or two paragraphs per chapter (which is a lot considering there are 64 in the story). Very well, let's go.

I will start with a small introduction, I guess:

On February 17, 2016, I had already spent quite some months on fanfiction, as a "ghost", meaning I had no account and I left no reviews, I just searched and read—complete stories only at the time. I had been down on the How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and The Lion King before reaching Bolt's. The previous Christmas (2015) my youngest cousin came in for a visit. He was (perhaps still is) in the age of "Let's watch this movie till the end, and then watch it again, over and over again," so I did see Bolt quite a lot of times when he was here; heard it too, the sound reached my room with no problem. That led me here, because I hadn't seen the movie in a long, long time, and watching it over with an older perspective gave me a new light on the events of it (Yes, I mean the unusual romance almost everyone says it was born when he saved her from animal control). Anyhow, I read up almost all—if not all—the fanfics in this section that a) involved romance and b) were complete.

That had me thinking. For a few weeks I was like "Let's write a Bolt fanfic!... Nah, another time," although the idea pleased me from the beginning. Yeah, Feb. 17 arrived and I was alone on the afternoon on my yard, sitting down and trying to meditate (Yes, I do it in real life, as often as I can). Well, that day I couldn't; the idea of writing had taken too much weight of my mind and I just got up and walked in circles while I figured it out. I asked myself some questions to give it a basic structure, the plot and everything. Once done I ran back to my room, sat down and wrote the chapter, made an account and yada, yada, boom, first chapter. And here we are.

Anyway, that first day I made almost the first five chapter's structure in my mind, so updating was easy at first. From the beginning I wanted it to be like a book, so I used –These–. Let me explain: In English, we use "quotation marks for dialogues, right?" Well, in Spanish we don't. I personally prefer the quotation marks, but in Spanish we use hyphens for them, and they work weirdly. And, believe it or not, most of the other Bolt fanfics in Spanish are actually written in a script format, like:

 **Person1:** Hi everyone! [he said walking down the stairs]

 **Person1:** Well, hello, there! (I don't like him)

And it was pretty exhausting to read them like that. Man, some of the stories were better than good, even better than excellent, but maaaan… it was tiring to read all those stories like that. A lot of potential gone to waste, if you ask me.

Well, when I were to write I would sit down and think "I'm in point A at the beginning, I wanna reach point B by the end of it and show point C to create interest" and the ideas would usually flow to me, mostly with no complications, and thus many things had no prior planning.

Anyway, chapter 1 was simple and fast because of its short length. Just a general overview of what would have happened since the end of the movie, and which direction we were taking, as well as showing a… peculiar behavior between Bolt and Mittens. Similarly, I gave away that there would be more characters than just them by introducing Mega and Byte indirectly. Nothing too fancy, just to mention that my original initial sentence was "There had been months since the fire at the Sovereign Entertainment facilities…", but by the time I didn't know the name of the T.V. company that had kept Bolt in, so I changed it to the sentence that now marks the beginning of my story. _What did you guys think when you found a fresh fanfic, being updated yet, so long after the actual release of the movie?_

For chapter 2 I was very motivated, since I got two reviews on the very first night I originally posted the chapter in Spanish, even more after realizing I had picked a pretty dusty and half-abandoned section of fanfiction. It had a similar purpose of showing Bolt, Mittens and Rhino would have company. I still hadn't determined if Alpha, Delta and Kass would be the wolves and the hawk, but I was already leaning to a "No".

The first time I thought about really making a fanfic, I planned not only chapter 1, but 2, 3, 4, and 5 in that same afternoon. Thus, the idea of the dream and the little kids of Bolt and Mittens was from there. Ed's presence on this dream was planned as well, me wanting to show that as they would have friends, they would have enemies and foes as well, even if I hadn't yet explained the concepts. I did consider Bolt listening to it (The shadow) and actually fleeing home, but I discarded that almost immediately; also that Mittens was already trying to get close to Bolt and that the shadows from the first chapter (Mega and Byte) would come back.

In chapter 4, Kass appears and has a talk with Bolt before going somewhere. I didn't specify where to give him an air of mystery. Now, considering sizes, Bolt is about 15cm taller than Erin; however, his lack of faith in himself and his combat skills renders him powerless to his attacks. Mega and Byte revealing themselves was also planned from the beginning. An important point here was that Mega would explain Bolt his obvious feelings and that the shadow was real too.

Bolt's explanation for chapter 5 was meant for 4, but I decided to give in the first suspense cut. I also showed Ed back, intending to attack Bolt again; if he had succeeded again, he would have hurt the dog, but his conversation with Mega had prepared him for it. Then he helped Mittens with it, too. I decided to star Helang onto the story here.

Chapter 6 was the first one I didn't plan that afternoon I jumped into writing this fanfic. I displayed that both friends and foes were looking for something, trying to intrigue, and showing that both thought Bolt had that something. This is when Centauri is shown for the first time. I mentioned a movie (The Matrix) plainly because I had just re-watched those awesome movies by then and felt like placing it in. The last relevant thing about the chapter was the first show that the new friends could do extraordinary things.

Well, in chapter 7 Mega gives a profound explanation about shadows to Bolt, and begins to train him. That was the main purpose of it, as well as the little confrontation with Ed, giving away that the dog had a lot of potential. Now, Mega and Byte stole the generators the shadow had while it was facing Bolt. Mega and Helang burned them down and Byte froze the remains, before burying them in the forest. By this time I made a major change in the plotline: My original intentions were that Bolt would keep training with Mega alone, in secret, and that his two friends wouldn't join them until later down the story, but I didn't found a way to actually finish if I went down that way, so I made adjustments, hence Mega and Byte discussing whether they should speak to Mittens and Rhino, too. _What was your first impression when you read Mega's explanation on the shadows?_

The idea for a flashback in chapter 8 came to me when Rhino mentioned to Bolt and Mittens that he, too, knew the shadows. It was short and simple; I was particularly interested in showing that Rhino did know about his friends' feelings to each other, and that he was simply not taking the right approach in his investigations.

For chapter 9 I decided I would give a date for the story, being it the beginning of October, even more with the theme of Halloween and the shadows. I introduced Soul in this chapter, but the most important thing here, I think, is what happened with Penny. Originally, she was out of all it, and I had written that she didn't come back just so I could focus on other important aspects of the chapter.

This led to chapter 10, since a little before Bolt and Mittens could've started their relationship, but didn't because of something related to the girl. This was it: during my shower of ideas I considered the possibility of Penny being captured by the shadows, and Bolt going after her, but leaving his friends behind (Thinking of the idea that they still didn't know what was going on), which would have allowed the shadows to get Mittens as well, pushing Bolt into the situation of his nightmare. However I did change my mind and decided to include the girl into the actual supernatural thing, not entirely discarding the idea that she had been attacked by shadows.

It all leads to flashback number 2, when Soul explains that he gave up his life for her when a shadow squad tried to capture the girl and her mother. The fact that Flor was already on their car was a B plan. A plan being that the shadows attacked the car, and in case of failure (like it happened) Flor would already be inside, to try and separate him from his friends.

For chapter 12 I made quite some changes that would have taken the story into an entirely different direction. Pepe and Jonathan started to become an idea here, as well as some details regarding Flor. One of the ideas was that she would actually fall in love with Bolt, no shadow involved, and that perhaps he would've kissed her to force the specter to leave; that's why she tells him he is more handsome in person. The shared dream was instant thought, like many other things, like it being narrated by each of the four. Beta makes her debut here as double agent and as Mega's adoptive daughter.

The first thought for chapter 13 was that Soul had stopped the bomb, not the pillar. And it was a little complicated to explain that even they didn't control it, it could still help them in some ways and etcetera. Now, like I said in the previous chapter, Flor could've felt something for Bolt, and thus her shadow realizing that she actually liked him, which made it easier for the shadow to manipulate her body. I also considered making Bolt and Mittens here, when they're in the barn, but then another idea got to my head.

At the beginning of chapter 14 I mention that Flor was playing in the garden, when the shadow is mentioned to not let Flor so such things. Due to the success in hurting Mittens, and what Bolt offered for her to stop doing it (Sleeping with her), the shadow gave Flor a "free time"; however when the border collie begins to question her attitude towards the cat, the shadow gets back to work. The two alternatives to get Flor's shadow out were there, but they never were meant to be used. Soul was always planned to bring up another solution, though he had to investigate first. Jonathan and Pepe come around here, and perhaps the stray group I mentioned would've come around a couple chapters later, but there were already too many characters to handle in a short period of time. Bolt hugs Flor four times in this chapter, one for the shadow and three to make her feel better.

This had its repercussions in chapter 15, where I tried to show that the situation was getting out of hand. If Flor's shadow had stayed around any longer, basically that's how the days would've become: dangerous and unpredictable. I said Flor did have a liking for Bolt, which results in all this. She knew Bolt loved Mittens, but the collie had lived a lot of time with no affection and whenever the dog held her she would feel loved; thus, she subconsciously granted the shadow more access to her body, to receive more attention. Dangerous, huh?

In chapter 16 Bolt is told that he only has to give more power to his gesture to get the shadow out of Flor. The kiss was the original option, but, it could have not worked, because Bolt was not in love with Flor and he would have not given it the… appropriate "importance", because he would have been doing it as an obligation. I also took the chapter to show you how the elements work in my stories, y'know, fire-electric, water-ice, air-light, earth-darkness; and although there is no doubt with the first two, the variants for air and earth are personal. In this chapter, with the second appearance of the Pit bull, I decided that perhaps he would appear again, but later. Finally, Penny's participation was sealed through her conversation with Soul, as I had already decided many things regarding her participation in the team. _What do you think, in any aspect, of the way I initiated the relationship between Bolt and Mittens?_

In chapter 17 I decided to get everyone together, as to chapter 16 there was at least one other member of the team everyone didn't know of. Soul told Helang to offer them an opportunity to join the training like they did with Mittens and Rhino; however, this situation never occurs and they just begin to train after their talk about their pasts. You probably noticed I omitted Mittens' past. You see, I read a lot of other stories before starting mine, thus, knew of many ideas other people had used for the cat's past, so I chose not to mention it, and let everyone see her past the way they wanted. Though, as of now, I do have a few ideas for her past. _Would you have liked that I included her past, too? Would you like to see it in a sequel?_

By the time I was writing chapter 18 I had decided there would be three chapters around the same thing (their pasts), and this concept was only repeated once in the story, when in the battle. Trevor is the name of the boy Pepe used to live with, however, that's the name of my dragon (The profile picture); this guy is like a universal OC. You'll eventually see what I mean. The expression of "usually it's the one who asks" that Kass says to Mega was taken from my father; it's one of his favorite sayings. Whenever someone asks anything like "Who's gonna wash the dishes?" His answer (or mine, if he asked) is that one, and that person washes the dishes. Funny, huh? As for the orange cat's inability to cry… with all what happened to him plus the angle he was used to watch things through, he "blocked" that part. Since his mother died, the cat has not felt sad about anything, let alone had needed to cry.

In chapter 19 I mention the three Labrador siblings and Flor. Gamma, Dseta and Omega were mentioned, and had a minor role in an early version of the story, which never got solid enough for me to write. But, who knows? All three are alive and somewhere out there… When Beta tells that a pack of full-grown wolves just stepped out of the way she and Mega were following was simply because Mega, Byte, Helang and Soul have a reputation; she was impressed by this because while Mega had the puppies under his care hi used none of his special abilities, thus hiding them from his mate and children. Her participation in an infiltration at such a young age made Beta strong and independent, and helped with a lot of aspects that could've been a lot worse. Now, I think it's a little obvious, but the pain from Flor's past stopped her from doing well in her training and pushed her to the dark when she was young. Now, as a funny thing, I came to realize all of my OC's lived in the streets or without people, at least for a while (Pets only, of course).

In chapter 20 I had the goal of showing that Mega and Byte were exact opposites, like Yin and Yang. The philosophy Helang lives by (Which is Soul's by the way) is for later. Helang tells Pepe that the equivalent of a light destroyer shadow would be the pillar of light, since no one knew of the existence of the pillar of darkness (Which, by the way, isn't, at least not this one); in fact, nobody mentions it until the monster screams it itself. Now, Mega's relation with his mate was narrated pretty summarized and sloppy because the chapter was already too long and I wanted to show other things. So, I believe this time there wasn't much of a problem, because in Spanish, man was I forced to explain a lot of things. The example of the butterfly was because of it, as was Rhino's question for Mega and Byte. I got a review asking me to justify the actions my characters were taking, and I chose to include the answer into the story to avoid a loooooong Author's note, so yeah. I mean, it's a story, but most of the philosophies mentioned in it are actually real and practiced by myself. We'll talk about it later. Now, Mega broke up with his mate because she wasn't coming around and the other possible reason was that she were killed. No, I didn't want to. _This is a very important question. Do you have any doubt regarding philosophical or spiritual themes in this story?_

Chapter 21 marks the beginning of their training and whatever, showing a little more of Soul's thinking, when he says "I don't want you to make calculations. I want you to stop using your brain and start using your heart, stop thinking, start feeling," which comes from the famous "Don't think, feel. The force will guide you." Respective to their first spar, the most interesting would be Kass' and Jonathan's, especially if you consider the first is 25cm and the latter is 70. The energy shield mentioned by Mega, the one Soul used before dying on the shadow encounter is actually a solidification one self's aura. Meditating and relaxing absorbs the energy, which is then redirected to the aura making it denser and capable of repelling physical contact.

In chapter 22, the answer to "Where do you want me to start from?"—"From the start, of course" is also from my father, same goes for the thing abput being only two types of problems in life "Those you can solve and those you can't. They have a solution, worrying is a waste of time; they don't, worrying is a waste of time." The spark I mention after Alpha received advice from Pepe is not only to follow his advice, but is the spark of her love for him. The connection Kass has with his father is extremely strong, like I said, and thus the reason he asked for his help with Alpha's and Mitten's insecurities. I am not married to any religion or belief in particular, so I avoided any mention of God, heaven, afterlife or anything like that, just referring to the place where the souls go when they die as "there", or "the other side" as to try and not to offend anyone (which, by the way, gets harder apparently by the minute). The records of akashia are based on the "akashic records" which are exactly what I describe in the story: a place where past, present and future are stored away with an infinite amount of knowledge about anything and everything. And just as the story says, gotta be in peace to reach them, as to prevent any idiot to try and find weapons of mass destruction or anything of that sort while searching.

Shade's introduction comes in this chapter; he'll have his important roles later on. Just to end it, Kass' father helps both Mittens and Alpha. Since the cat was clawless and she would _need_ those natural weapons, well, there she goes. I know a couple of friends in the Spanish section who also gave Mittens her claws back for their stories, the giant difference being that I "justified" it, while if you read their stories you would simply stumble across a sentence saying that she used her claws. And the first time I was like "What? Wasn't that cat, you know… de-clawed?" But whatever man. Lastly on this chapter I like to take what he says to Alpha. "The fact that you receive help doesn't mean that you cannot do it. It means that you not alone." It's not mine, but it's good.

For chapter 23 there was not much to mention. The interference with Soul was a factor I added referring to the date, explaining that even though they had supernatural help from a dead master, they wouldn't be able to count on him always. Another important thing was that a shadow (Ed) is not entirely satisfied with the way his organization works, even if it is just referring to the naming thing. That nonconformity was noticed—and eventually shared—by Shade.

24 showed up that the elite shadow and Ed didn't get along, yada, yada, Penny gets to know the whole team, since up to then she only knew her and the neighbor's pets. When Soul's pups feel danger coming closer but also going away it's because Centauri was starting to send shadows south, but keeping Ed and the elite close, confusing them at first. That Byte and Helang stay quiet after Mega's mega calculations and stadistics speech was simply because they had never expected him to say such precise things. When Bolt talks to Mittens because she is still afraid, and tells her about two characters he saw in T.V. with Rhino saying to live without worrying, ladies and gentlemen, he's talking about Timon and Pumbaa and their classic "Hakuna Matata". Finally, the fact that the shadow was planning everything on its attack ten days before the actual event played a big importance on the success of its mission.

In chapter 25, when Penny touches Mittens and suddenly sees many images of the cat's fears, you could visualize it well if you ever saw a series called "Chuck". This guy accidentally downloads a computer with a ton of government secrets into his head, literally; so, whenever he sees something related to those secrets (i.e. a murderer wanted by the CIA) he has a "flash": a lot of images quickly passing through his head, releasing information related to what he just saw. That's the way I visualized that part of the story. It might seem as Penny's innate ability, but it isn't. Like Soul said, it's a random ability that popped up while she was trying to begin understanding her pets, even if they are not so related to one another. The phrase mentioned by the superior "What you think, you will be, what you feel, you will attract, what you imagine, you will create," is from Buddha. Some of the verbs Soul uses when talking from his point of view are in quotation marks. Why? Simple. He has no body, thus he has no "front", "back", "left" or "right", he can't "see", "hear" or whatever, because he has no body at all. However it was quite impossible for me to narrate something with no verbs at all, so yeah. The other thing from this chapter I wanted to show was another slight disagreement of Ed with the organization policy after Centauri refuses to tell him what is happening.

Now, in chapter 26 I mention that Kass stopped taking sabbatical days, when he never did have them for he was seeing Umbra and Lux when he was not with the group; the only thing that happened was he stopped meeting them those days. I had not really planned the attack until I sat down to write it the first time. Bolt's premonition debuts here, the first actual and real show of his progress, like his first hyper-speed run. Similarly, the fight with the shadow came to me that moment, the only planned thing was the result, and what the shadow would take. What Helang says to Mittens: "A lie repeated a thousand times becomes a truth" is from Joseph Goebbels, who was a Nazi and a close friend of Hitler actually, but it fits perfectly with some others I use along the story. _What did you think about the confrontation between Bolt and the elite shadow?_

The tumor-like balls I mention in chapter 27 when describing Centauri for the first time are located in the places where the dark spikes are in the Dark pillar's body, and that's why he has them. "There are two rules for success: 1) [or the first one is] never say everything you know"; this belongs to Roger H. Lincoln, and of course the original saying does not contain the second rule either. The universe will know if the man actually knew the second rule or just made it up like that. The memory alteration was a spontaneous creation that added flavor to the story. Without it, most would've been just "training" "defense" and repetitive situations. The stun bark works with an "exceptional element" meaning it's not from the basic four, neither their variants, but it's not a legendary element—life, death, time and space—either; it is a sound skill. Sound, among with other elements I will not mention today, work as intermediaries between the basic and legendary elements. You could say it's a tier 2 or 3 element. Now, Rhino never trained combat with the rest of the group; all the combat moves he used against No-Memory-Bolt, he learnt them in television of course. Helang mentions on this chapter that they could threaten to purify the shadow if it doesn't comply, even though they had never done that before. This idea stuck, however, because I then decided that Ed's destiny wouldn't be to die, but to join the light.

By Chapter 28, when Mega asks Helang who, apart from Alpha, is trying to win Pepe's heart and the hawk replies with "F" and "lor" (That is, Flor), he makes the comment in that way as a signature of mine. I tend to answer, especially when it's a name the question, like that. The "touching" scene between Mega and Byte was to show that they were just brother and sister, like any others: they fight and argue, but they are for the other when you need them. The plan to alter the memories I had it since bolt lost them, but I showed it only into this chapter and not the last one because I had to plan details on those. _What did you guys think when you saw what the shadows were planning with the memories?_

The "three skill steps" Byte mentions to Mittens in chapter 29, contrary to many other 'profound' things I mention in my story, have no foundation anywhere. I used them to try and explain why or how could Bolt remember without remembering, or remember subconsciously. Erin's return with a shadow on his mind was a very premeditated situation, and I decided to go on with it. When the shadows are watching the students work, the elite shadow mocks Ed, asking if he already liked the little guys; Ed denies it, lying, since he had taken care for them four. The nickname "pea brain" came out at once. This chapter had a function of connecting what had happened and what was going to happen in the story.

As of chapter 30, Soul begins to reduce the frequency with which he appears before the group, with no apparent explanation. Well, he had to save up a lot of energy for his appearance at the battle, so he started from here. I made another time-jump here in the story as to not fall into repetitions. By this time, I was already preparing the only past that was left for me to tell (except for Mittens' of course). By this time, I also was arranging other time settings, y'know, how long would Bolt be with the shadows, how long until the Pit bull talked and so on.

Chapters 31 and 32 are about Soul's past. As I mentioned before, this was the only past I had in mind since the very beginning, roughly at least. It was the only past explained in a flashback. Truth is that Soul's real name (Edward) is actually my middle name, obviously in Spanish (Eduardo). Some of his physical traits are also from myself… c'mon guys, who doesn't wanna be the hero of their own story? The first paragraph he used to describe his life in general matters is pretty accurate with mine. The friends he mentions he and Centauri met when they were thirteen include Orion, Xi and Choreftís, along with some others not really mentioned. Now, virtually speaking, Centauri was not wrong when he told Soul there should be a balance between light and darkness; but Soul didn't know the gray concept, nor the existence of the shadows, so he didn't know what to do. His Mark I staff was not as good or as durable as the one he is seen with later, proof of it the way Centauri breaks it in half. Soul says something important when having Centauri on the floor: "if you feed on something negative, you'll only get negative results" which might derive a little from "violence only causes more violence." Well, after the confrontation Centauri distances himself from Soul, not because he weren't respecting their agreement, but because of simple rancor; back then he still had his word of honor and since he had lost the bet… he would do what they had agreed to. The energy spheres or balls may be more commonly known as "psiballs," but I never use that term in the story. Okay, now, Soul's father was Genesis, the man that, with the help of Frost—From whom I won't say anything because it's material for later—managed to defeat the shadow organization prior to Centauri's, among a lot of others. Seen like that, how did a simple shadow managed to kill him? Because it was a shadow. Simple: It was a totally different shadow, like the dark pillar, and Genesis had never met one; besides, the man was retired and his skills were rusty. He had also foreseen that future, and that's why everything is like that when Soul arrives. What Genesis tells his son on his goodbye note "If you want to move faster, go alone. If you want to move further, go accompanied," is and African proverb.

Like I said about who killed Soul's parents… that's why the shadow he meets in the alley says he's lucky, because if they had sent the Dark Pillar after the young man, it would have killed him with no hesitation. But the shadows didn't consider him a threat at the time, and thus sent a normal shadow.

"Bob's" lair and the scene were Soul had to squat to fit into it was inspired by the time Luke goes into Yoda's home (Empire Strikes Back). Now, the story "Bob" tells him about the unregistered thriving of humanity when shadows and lights got along is inspired by the legend of the Tower of Babel. This says that at the beginning humanity was united and had no conflicts; thus, they progressed quickly. So much, that they started building a tower, one that would reach the skies: The Tower of Babel. The gods saw that humanity no longer bowed to them, but saw them as equals and hence the tower that would reach their home. Attempting to not lose their power over the humans, the gods destroyed the tower and separated the people with different languages, thoughts, religions and appearances. No other problem of that magnitude has arose for them, since humans are too busy fighting each other to look beyond… "Divide et imperas"

Jeffrey (Bob), the bulldog that shared an alley with Soul, is one of the many allies and friends Genesis made. In his life prior to marriage and parenthood, he traveled a lot and made allies and friends everywhere. Even after becoming parent, whenever his job required him to travel, he would cherish the opportunity to meet new entities. Hence he knew Umbra, Lux, Kia, and even Erin's parents. Jeffrey personally became very close to Genesis, the man even met him once or twice a week, caring not to bring any fur home. He asked the bulldog to care for Soul and train him in secret, without telling him they were related.

Soul turns a little crazy after being in the forest alone (and who wouldn't?); what held him back from madness was music. This is his innate ability: music, creating it and reproducing it with any materials. He can virtually alter the frequency at which the particles move in any medium and produce music with it. That's why his kids knew how to make music with stones or sticks and how to sing. Soul used to thank his prey before eating it in a sign of respect, which is a matter for later. His teeth never rotted, and I leaned that somewhere: Apparently the ancient Romans had perfectly strong teeth, because even though they didn't brushed them, they didn't consume the massive amount of sugars and chemicals we do. The puma that guides him to Helang's egg was female, and like it's said later in the story, the same he met with the giant wolf in that vision-style chapter.

Helang, with his mere presence calmed down the anger within Soul; the hawk's innate ability is balance and control, which also helped a lot.

Soul mentions his birthday is May 25th; surprise, the date for "A new hope" Premiere in theaters. That's why I picked that date. Soul lies when he says that Yin was dead when he took him out of the hunter's bag. If you want to catch him with another lie, check whenever there are three dots in the middle of his narrative. Not always, obviously, but sometimes, because Yin was alive when he took him out, but barely, and managed to say nothing before dying. Same thing with the issue about the twins, but that's already solved.

Soul mentions that his personality varies according to an element, that's for another time. And just to end, the final part of this past was not very detailed because it was already long and if I wandered into details we would probably still be there.

Anyway, this was for the first _half_ of the chapters in curiosities, because, yeees, there is _another_ chapter for the other half. Man, this is long. So, I'll check it out and see you soon, in part 2.5 of Curiosities and credits!


	67. Curiosities and Credits 25

Curiosities and credits 2.5

Alright, following on:

Soul's story, as of now, has suffered several modifications. I will leave this story as it is, but now I picture that he left home at 15—one year before I say it in the story—and I think of him as older, not just 18, but about 24-26, as well as some other smaller modifications not actually worth mentioning, since I won't be changing anything I wrote.

In chapter 33 there were a series of changes applied to the plot, will get to it. Both adult shadows mention the possibility of the first dark pillar in the worlds. Same thing: Centauri already knew about them, but he had no reason to tell his shadows about them, so Ed and the elite thought they were doing something new by corrupting a pillar of light. Here, when Shade blackmails Bolt, he tells the dog that his friends are the "bad guys"; the dog tries to defend them, but he is left without arguments in this part.

"Yeah. Tell me something, pup. If all life is sacred, why do your 'friends' kill hundreds of us, eh?"

I didn't find an immediate answer to that.

"Because… you are…"

"Different. They judge us wrong just because we live feeding on another type of energy, one that they don't understand and scares them. They hunt us, like beasts, just because they don't understand us…"

That, that piece of writing was like punching myself in the face. With like, an anvil! Without realizing it, I had completely turned the tables, because, ultimately, Shade was right! But it was not even planned! The "gray" factor was not contemplated, not at all. I almost destroyed completely the ideals of Soul and his boys, I poked a hole in the philosophy of the heroes, and was *this* close of not being able to sew it. Now for the conversation Penny and Soul have, in which the girl realizes this guy gave his life for hers is some sort of "residue" of what I mentioned before, because even if she wasn't falling in love with him, I did want them to develop a close bond. Finally, Mega's outburst of anger at the end was half staged, half real. The wolf is hard to get to, but his children are a sensible nerve, and the Pit bull had just threatened to hurt Beta, so yeah. However, he soon realized he could do something out of it and came up with the plan in the few seconds he had his paw on the dog's neck. A plan that, ultimately, works.

The fact that they began to move everything to the warehouse 2F in chapter 34 was because simply they couldn't have the wolves and the hawk find their biggest base just to get some memories back. Bolt's doubt, the one with I almost screwed up, becomes stronger, and this is when I became so grateful that Kass had been disappearing, since he was now the one who would explain to Bolt the concept of gray. Everything he says about good and bad, well, I think it was well described, and if not, I'll talk it next chapter. Now, Kass mentions that us humans say that dogs only see black and white, and the shepherd responds that it's ridiculous. Animals, all of them, have a lower range of visible colors they perceive, true, but they don't see black and white. Hawks have a tendency for shades of blue; hedgehogs have one for yellows and so on. Dogs, I can't quite remember the color, or if it's just plainly less hues in general, but they don't see black and white. Umbra and Lux come around as compliment for the gray ideology. I will say more about it soon. _With what you saw in the story and what I told you, what do you think of Umbra and Lux?_

For chapter 35 I placed in stand by the gray concept, while working with the trap and the memories Bolt was recovering slowly. Peep having to say that laughing at yourself is good… man, people, life is meant to be fun! Do, don't, play, go, live, and if you screw up… damn it, people, laugh, laugh out loud! Life is too short and unpredictable to be mad. Having Soul tell Penny she could be locked until after new year was because the man had been planning an attack on Centauri's building, but sniffing into the records and finding out what could happen if they did as he was planning, he realizes the girl will have to fend for herself and find a way out the same way. The "let's all spy on Bolt" was an instant idea and I took that point for the orange cat's explanation to start.

The point is that, like Soul says in chapter 36, there is more than one valid point of view. I think you may have heard that "not because you're right it means that I'm wrong. You have never seen it from my point of view." You see, this thingy takes a lot of relevance for the next chapter. Now, here I was very relieved to catch that Soul didn't kill unless it was absolutely necessary, even if they were shadows, and that did a great job covering up my big hole. It is also true that Soul and company's ideas used to revolve around the Jedi code as well. Shortly before this, I found the famous "gray code", which by the way, sounds epic. Search for it on google and you'll find it, and it covers what Kass and Soul explain to the group. I gave in this chapter two or three moments to the couple knowing that they would be the last for a while. It's also true that even though Bud and James weren't trying to make friends with Bolt at first, they ended up doing it; their original intention had been to get information while playing, but they had a good time and forgot until it was time to leave. Later, realizing they had had a good time with the dog, they had wanted to actually become friends with him, and the fact that they tried to stop the corrupted memories for coming back is one of the first signs of it.

In chapter 37, Pepe does once more his role in motivating Mittens not to give up. The innate ability of Pepe is the heart (not the organ, but the so-called "heart": feelings, emotions, nobility, etc.), which, by the way is the same innate ability of the protagonist dog. That is why both of them are good to make friends, nice to spend time with, natural leaders and also why they take attention from the girls they know. All of it from the purity of their hearts. Both Bolt and Pepe ignore they have this ability and thus why he keeps saying things like "good night" even though he was corrupted; in fact, that's where all the holes in the corrupted memories come from. It's not that Alex is an incompetent, the shadow did his job well, but you know now. Shade also shows to be the one able to improvise better from all of them, since every time Bolt gets to ask something about anything, he says something or makes something up for the dog to stop asking. What happens to James when he tries to give away the location of the dark building is a seal applied to the soldier shadows. Had Bud not thought quickly, James could've died. Centauri would have rather lost a mouthy soldier than have his important information revealed. Being that both were incomplete soldiers, the seal didn't activate until he was about to reveal something big. In this chapter, Mittens notes that both Rhino and Mega are immature, but noble. You guessed! Innate ability alert. The spark, the fire of joy. This one, among with the heart one are of the strongest of them all, since both of them can enhance the entity and make them improve and achieve almost anything. I know I mentioned the hamster's ability was the energy sphere, but he developed that one using hold of his imagination and joy, so technically, it is his innate ability (or a part of it at least)

In chapter 38 I mentioned that Umbra and Lux had watched the shadows talk to Mittens, and everything the cat does afterwards. Both of them have their own agenda; even if they are a common shadow (talking that it is not a pillar or darkness or anything similar, being clear that Umbra is very strong) and the remains of a pillar of light, Umbra and Lux respectively are in charge of maintaining order in the area, designed by the council itself. They are wise and powerful and safeguard the natural order from great dangers for a long time. The part about the trees and they meditating and all is for the next chapter. Now, since these were chapters where Bolt and Mittens would be apart, I wanted to show that they were still connected. During the time the dog is with the shadows, the cat thinks/whispers/says his name. And of course, Bolt always hears her, which is what got him distracted from his battle with Alex. Now, here comes Penny's escape; the idea was instant, since the girl had been away for a while and the time Soul had given her for nonstop meditation had its date there. The shadow that visits her in her cell is Shade; I think it's predictable, but just in case.

In chapter 39 James mentions that mid-September a squad tried to catch someone, but that they were stopped by the Shadow Killer—Soul—, and that a shadow from that squad managed to kill him. It happened in early October, already fixed, though. The expression of "don't hold the glass too long" comes from a short story I once heard:

[In a group session of psychology, the psychologist placed a glass of water in front of everyone. People were expecting the typical "half full or half empty", but the psychologist asked:

'How much does this glass weight?"

Answers varied. The group agreed between 200 and 250 grams. The psychologist replied: 'the absolute weight is not important, it depends on how long you hold it.'

If I hold it for a minute, it won't be a problem, if I told it for an hour, my arm will hurt; if I hold it for a day, my arm will probably feel paralyzed and numb. The weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer it is held, the heavier and more difficult to bear it becomes.

And he continued: Worries are like the glass.

If you think about them for a while, nothing happens.

If you keep thinking of them they'll start to hurt and if you don't drop the subject all day you'll end up paralyzed and numb, unable to do anything about it. Remember not to hold it for too long.]

So basically, Helang tells them not to keep worrying all day long. Now, when Bud hits Kass with less than his full strength it's because he and James are already helping the group get Bolt back, but they had to keep pretending in front of the others.

In chapter 40 Kia mentions that she met Centauri in a city near the border with Mexico. Ciudad Juarez, if we wanted to be specific, which means that Centauri was in Mexico during the time he wasn't back in the building. Now, Kia is very independent; she almost taught herself her teleporting and speed, with a lot of effort and dedication. The crystals react when listening to Bolt hum and think the lyrics of the song he had heard Mega singing. Like I said, Soul had a lot to do with music and everything related to it. Soul taught the song to Mega, whom Bolt heard singing it and repeated whilst holding who's cane? Soul's. The crystals reacted when listening the familiar melody, and that was a hard blow to the corrupt memories, and releasing some real ones, which is why the dog calls for Mittens after receiving the impact. _What did you guys think of Kia, before she introduced herself?"_

Now, Mega has a small weakness, which he hides pretty well, but it is still there. His past with his former mate. As the wolf says, he cannot let go of her, and that causes him some problems: nostalgia, mild depression, outbursts of anger and so on. Of course, he doesn't let anyone see any of it. He would let go of it at night, away from camp, excusing his presence in some way. The most common way would be hitting things, and hence the noise Mittens and Byte hear before the comments Mega makes. Soul would calm him, and thus the guitar sound that accompanies him when he is singing. The song, of course, learnt from Soul, has that nostalgic-happy-melancholic side, where you know things are not as they used to be and you look back to how things were and you understand that life goes on and whatever. Being Bolt with Penny, and being unable to think on his new doubt for more than a couple seconds is part of the function the blockade had. The hug bolt gives to Shade is the first step on cleaning him, unconscious of course. I also realized I hadn't mentioned the elite shadow since Bolt arrived to the building, so I improvised, heh.

In chapter 41 Bolt mentions that Kia didn't eat or consume dark energy; well, as you know, the vixen had no actual idea of what she was getting into, since she had only met Centauri and not anyone that would tell her how dangerous he actually was, so she was blind in the matter. Therefore, she kept her normal feeding, even if all her acquaintances fed on dark energy. That, of course, changes when Bolt comes back to Mittens. For that same reason, that she doesn't know what's going on, that she doesn't use all her strength in combat. I mention—well, Mittens mentions—that Soul hasn't appeared to anyone in that time; that was for the same thing as before, he had a lot to save a lot of energy for the final battle. It is also true that he won't always be there for everyone; he could be reborn, join the council or some other things. I also mention that Mittens is learning Morse, and that's for something. By the time I was first among these chapters, I decided to learn Morse myself… just to… uh… cheat on tests with my friends, he, he. I learned the numbers, the SOS and most letters, unfortunately my friends were far from me and never bothered to learn the damned code, so it was useless. Now, same connection between the dog and the cat: both had the same dream, and as Kia waked Bolt to ask who Mittens is, the cat on her home wakes up suddenly. Coincidence? No. Next: Mega and Byte argue over the strength of two emotions, love and fear. I mention they are equivalent and opposite; why fear and not hate? Next chapter. Mega also mentions that love is so powerful that it is banned by both Jedi and Sith, why did he know that? Well, Soul told him. The man, like I said, trained from a very young age, but he was also into pop culture, and watched movies, and played videogames and whatever. Having his kids to entertain, he would sometimes tell them stories and that made Mega a fan of Star Wars, even though he had never watched an actual movie until he does with Rhino on the early chapters of the story. That's why the wolf knows.

Now, that Umbra an Lux go together to follow Centauri's call in chapter 42 even though only Umbra was necessary for it, is because they have a friendship that's centuries-old, the light wanted to make sure that the shadow was alright and reached its destination safely. While Umbra is away, Lux spends most of its time inside the house. After receiving the news that they would get more power, the Elite Shadow was going to tell Ed the typical sentence of "you have not done a single job well done since we met the puppy", but said 'puppy' was in the room, so he changed the phrase a little. Now, Bolt asks Kia why do girls always say "you know" when they are upset. Truth is I don't understand either, I mean if they just talked… whatever. Certainly, as Kia says, sometimes us, men, are slow. Very. The shadow (Ed) was about to tell the elite shadow to stick his power right up his… well, butt but in another word, when he finds out he's not receiving power like all the others; that was simply out of rage, but it was a key point (The power thing, not the insult) for what comes next: the rescue, capturing Soul's kids and so on. Mega tells Ed that justice is a concept defined by who wants to apply it, which is something I have already told you a few times; it also comes in the next chapter. I find it… interesting the way how Centauri manipulates Kia until she submerges in the dark, the way he corrupts her without her really noticing. And I've seen it in real life, people being educated to believe certain things that they end up defending with all convictions, as wrong as they are sometimes. Now, Helang tells the part of the team that won't come to the rescue that they should trust him, a phase inherited from Soul. Peep is the only one who understands from the beginning and that's why he motivated the rest to trust Helang "blindly".

For chapter 43 I considered this different dynamic because it was important for me to show both points of view, and since it was going to be sooo tedious to be announcing the changes in P.O.V. I just played it like that. The reason why Mega is good with a computer was none other than Soul, who was telling him instructions on how to get the building's plans. "Voilà" is the French word, the classic one pronounced (at least where I come from) "Wala" or "guala", or whatever, but it is written like that. The four words that turn Bolt on, the ones Shade says, "play, attack, destruction, flight" each had a function. "play" was a temporary sealing of all the holes in the memories, making Bolt forget about all his doubts or compassion; "attack", was the trigger of his total aggression, added to his lack of compassion, it could turn him almost wild. "Destruction" filled the holes of friendship and love, making him unable to remember anything pretty about Mittens. "Flight" would leave his instincts without any suppressing. Shade also found some other words to use; "red" would make Bolt forget about the last thing they had been talking about, "dry" would make him sleepy, but none of those would be useful in the situation at hand there. Now, supposedly, the dog would have turned into a beast… Well, none of them had ever tested bolt against anyone on the team, nor Mittens or any other. They had always trained among them, and they had not considered the ability she had to calm him down, subconsciously at least. The small conversation they have shortly before finishing their fight, if you didn't notice, is almost the one from Anakin and Obi-Wan in episode III:

"I have failed you, Anakin"

"I should have imagined that the Jedi were planning to take over."

"Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine is evil!"

"From my point of view, the Jedi are!"

"Well, then you are lost!"

Just like the next part, when both of them are standing in two legs because he tried to hit her and she blocked with her own paws. If you were to change the two animals for grown men with lightsabers and place a lava explosion in the background, well… what can I say? I love those movies. Finally, Centauri's plan had two possible outcomes; the one that happened, where Kia got bitter and sunk into the darkness because of what happened with Mittens and Bolt, but there was another possible outcome, where Kia would have murdered Mittens, and the one to sink in the dark would have been Bolt.

The reason why Helang's abilities and premonition begin to fail in chapter 44 is because of the energy in the environment was too negative. "Defense ties, defense wins"; it's not a secret that fighting in the territory you know gives you an advantage, but the saying itself is from none other than my father.

We tend to play this game, perhaps you've heard about it, called Risk. The objective is to conquer the world, so you start with your troops in a country, proceed to expand and attack other players to eliminate them. The attacks are made with dices, the attacker has three and the defender two. The two highest numbers of the attacker are compared to both of the defender's; in case of a tie, defender wins. So if you're defending and roll two 6s, your attacker is screwed, because no matter what he rolls, "defense ties, defense wins", and that's where it comes from.

Next: Bolt manages to teleport him and his two friends considering three points: One, he had been training with Kia and learning from her tactics. Two, he was not affected by the darkness in the building because of all the time he had spent there already and Three, Mittens and Rhino were with him, so the pillar was complete. That's also the reason why Rhino managed his energy sphere bigger and faster than normal. When Centauri explains to Ed about the sprinklers and everything, he says that Kia had not been feeding on dark energy, but he says it in past, because he knew that the outcome of that event would cause her to begin to feed on it. Mega says that they will escape their cells quickly since he and Helang mastered ground, and they could've simply ordered the cells to break, of course, if they hadn't been made of obsidian. Centauri says that "…Certainly, the hamster appeared when the cat had already spoiled Bolt…" and says so because Kia was in the room. Next thing, the staff, the ring and all the artifacts Genesis ever made are "alive" to say, hence Soul's weapon mocking the shadows and only responding to its rightful owner. Think of it as the Mjolnir or Griffindor's sword.

In chapter 45 I decided to show you a little about Genesis and what was known about him. The factor of the fifth, ninth and thirteenth element something not easily achieved to avoid, for example, the water extinguishing the fire required to make them work while trying to combine them. I mentioned Frost, though I said little in here, because that's material for later. When Kia goes to the prisoners to propose the deal and begins telling them she doesn't like them, Mega interrupts saying that sound terribly familiar, referring to those were the exact words Ed used before they attacked, thus ending captive. They all comment that Kia acts like she owes something to Bolt, and it's nothing more that the way he treated her, since she had always been alone. From now on they start singing a lot, specially Mega. Those songs man are the ones that I like. I will note them down somewhere around here, if you're interested. Okay, so Mega's love situation was based in mine, and it was a pain in my butt until about six months ago. Simplifying, I fell in love, never ever found my guts to tell her and lost her. That's it. But the real problem was that she was my neighbor, so yeah… I saw her all the time, and heard her coming in and leaving, even if I didn't want to. And I could've done something then, but nooope… nothing. Eventually we parted ways, she moved to a new school and I moved from my home there, lost contact and I let her go. It doesn't even matter anymore and the only thing I regret is losing her friendship, since she was one of my best friends and now it's been years since we talked. But anyway, just let it go, flow and go on. _What did you think when you read about Genesis?_

For chapter 46 Bolt begins to worry about Mittens when he didn't used to before, and that's because he realized that if Rhino hadn't sneaked into the rescue, Kia would have killed her, and he wouldn't have forgiven himself for it. And that's exactly what he tells to the cat; I try to be original when writing, and while it's known that he cares for her, she is not helpless, with or without claws, hence her saying "You're my hero. But I'm not your damsel in distress." After that dinner, Bolt tries to convince Penny of the same he tried with Mittens, failing too… another word other than "determined" went to his mind before he said it, but he avoided the word to keep out of trouble. Next up, Soul says he'll stop her from going, but just to calm Bolt, since without Penny they would all have been captured, so from here he starts building up her anger by taunting her. The energy fields Helang mentions he couldn't see from inside the cage are auras, since the falcon has the capability to see them.

Chapter 47 had some interesting things around it. Centauri reprograms Bud and James to spit out the necessary information to the team just to trap them, but since he gets self-absorbed in his anticipated victory, he makes the programing not subtly at all. The training between Bolt and Mittens… had never happened before and why not? Next up, Centauri blocked their mouths so they couldn't ask for help, which leads to Bud using Morse code for it. The "false sensation of security" is another saying from my dad, especially when playing against him because I seem to be winning and suddenly he pulls out this mega-complex move and I lost.

Chapter 48 starts on the day after the rescuing because at the beginning I wanted it to be well developed, but it ended in too many perspectives, so I settled with flashbacks for it. When she tells the adults that "it's probably only your imagination" is a total reference from the first movies of the Chronicles of Narnia, and it's what Lucy tells her siblings after they get into the snowy world. Well, this chapter was mostly a connection, and I added the shattered building just to intrigue more.

The next four chapters (49, 50, 51, 52) come together in this. The most remarkable part is that the first time I published this, it was just after swallowing six of those Warrior Cats books I told you about, so I borrowed some verbs and the way of making narration and dialogues from there, so my writing changes a little, perhaps not too noticeable in this version since I wrote it even after reading more of those books. 90% of the chapters was last-time creation, especially with the first one, and for the next I would just make events and join them with the others. These are the last flashbacks in the story, with a total of 8. Another example of what I took from the books: the realistic dream of something catastrophic and being waken to realize it's a nightmare, and the mention of a "soft voice" or "warm fur". A part of the conversation between Bolt and Mittens when they are standing guard resembles one between Anakin and Padmé, when, in both cases, he had to tell her about a nightmare he had. Certainly, the cat distracts the dog while Soul deletes the memory like it happened otherwise a few moths before. Byte tells Kia that she only offers the truth, making the vixen hesitate a little before taking her paw, scene that comes from The Matrix movie, when Neo is about to take the red pill. Helang's ability to dematerialize along with the next phase (his merging with Soul) are skills not from Helang, but from the phoenix bird he was before.

The order of the guards they made was: Penny, Pepe, Bolt (and Mittens with him), Delta, Alpha, Rhino and Beta. _In general, how did you see the rescue and the way I wrote it?_

For chapter 53 I just have to say that—or repeat—Bolt and Pepe have the ability of the heart, which is why a hug from either can be "magical" and Beta starts to get lost in her embrace with the shepherd.

I already had the battle planned, but for chapter 54 I wanted to give in a new perspective, more relaxed. The first time I wrote it, I forgot that Bolt had actually seen snow in the movie, in a part of their journey, and went ahead saying he had never seen it. Of course, fixed it before I translated and you never had to read that mistake, but yeah. Now, I myself have never, ever, ever seen snow. In Mexico City it _never_ snows, and even though I've been to U.S.A. and even to Europe a couple times, I have never caught a glimpse of it. It is on my bucket list, and it's been there for faaar too long. When I say Mittens feigned dementia it's because she's pretending she doesn't know. I don't know if that's the correct translation or if there's another term for it, but in Spanish it's "Fingir demencia", which translates into it. _What did you guys think of this calm chapter before the storm?_

Anyway, in chapter 55 I deal exclusively with Soul, trying to make it clear that he was about to do something big. The most relevant thing about this one is the wolf and his puma mate. Why? Because they are none other than his parents. The wolf is Genesis, he always was, and the puma is his mother. I left a couple clues about it, but I don't think it was something deductible, or was it? Genesis picked that form since it was his animal guardian, like did his mother. Soul himself would be a wolf like his father. That's why he liked forests and some other things. I originally mentioned something about a line. This is a little complicated to understand, and I'll try to explain it in the next chapter and maybe you'll understand it. Soul considers what "Wolf" tells him, arriving to this conclusion: _Light can't exist without dark, but in our world, darkness must not be allowed to flourish. And if it's in our hands to stop it, we must try and stop it._ It is part of the gray code, which I tell you, is pretty epic. Anyway… _Putting aside the philosophical part, what's your opinion in this chapter? And of the two animals that accompany Soul here?_

Now, in chapter 56 Soul talks in particular with Kass, Helang and Bolt. The last one is just to make sure he trusts him. He talks to Umbra, Lux, Bud, and James. All of them but Bolt are informed of the plan, intending to keep the rest in the dark for real reactions when Centauri makes a move. Soul talks to someone else, who is Wolf once more. In this chapter I left a pretty good clue about who the pillar was, but I didn't say it… it was for the very last moment they would get to know the truth. For that reason Pepe says that as long as the three give their best, all will be well.

In chapter 57 Centauri mentions that he bought the building. Well, it is and not true. Do you guys know how Mexico lost half its territory to the US? Well, we sold it! The war between US and Mexico ended (with us losing) and we had to sign a paper indicating that they were sold. Think it like this: you get robbed, the guy gets arrested; but if in the robbery he forced you to sign this thing saying that you sell him your car and gave you, let's say, twenty pesos (about a dollar), you could do nothing, because if you try and catch him the evidence says that you sold your car for a goddamned dollar. Centauri did that: found the previous owner of the building, scared him to hell and then forced him to sell it, for the large sum or twelve dollars. And nobody could do anything because he has (had) the paper stating him as the owner. Now, Bolt doesn't actually tell Mittens that he loves her since they become mates, and only says it again when Centauri presses him to do it. I planned this since chapter like 29, when I realized the dog wouldn't actually say it, but show it.

Chapters 58. 59 and 60 go together again. I imagined pretty epic the way Soul stops Centauri's fist mid-air, but I'm not sure it got written as epic as I imagined. Rhino in the battle mentions that Bolt carried more of the pillar, and yes, Soul says later that it is Bolt the one carrying that last 1% to make it 100. Centauri made several mistakes in these chapters, but I'm not going to list them all. "Ygró" means just liquid in Latin, and Penny manages to understand it because of her innate ability: language, the universal language. That's why she was so quick to understand the animals. Her ability takes a lot of importance in the future, you'll eventually know why. The four young shadows don't do much here, not until Mega attacked Ed and then they flee.

When making the final attack, Rhino says "Pillar one, in position!", so change "pillar" for "red" and it sounds like the attack on the Death Star. Now, Mega makes a curious comment when the Dark Pillar takes a bomb out of its own stomach. "Who the hell gave life to that shit and for what purpose was it?" And yep… you'll have to wait to know! _What did you think of the dark pillar? And the battle in general? And what if I told you there's more from where that one came from?_

Like I said before, I got a taste for the art of playing "is it a dream or is it real?" and thus the beginning of chapter 61. _Did I accomplish? At least for a moment… where you tricked?_ Anyway, Bolt never says "mates" in the whole story. Mittens doesn't let him finish when he's asking her, nor she lets him tell the others and the dog interrupts himself when telling Kia. He thinks about the word, yes, but not once says it in the context of wanting to be/being the cat's mate. Closest is when he wakes up in this chapter and asked Mittens if she had a mate.

Another thing to show was that Kia and Erin had not been very welcome into the team. Once again, with his innate ability, Bolt convinces both to stay, and that's good, because both are valuable additions to the team. As I said before, Erin was to die and Kia to flee from the battle, but I think it turned out better this way.

The situation at the beginning of chapter 62, where Bolt almost gets killed because he woke up Mittens, is based up on the fanfic "Just One Night", which is one of my favorite of this section, both Spanish and English. Now, the naming ceremonies are fancy and all, and the thing is that they are not mine, since they come from the books. Obviously not exactly the same, but in general the structure, just as the way he names Ómicron and Erin, they come from those books. Calling their names after it is just the same. The celebration was from the very beginning, and I imagined a little music for it, the one called "Victory Celebration" from episode VI in Star Wars. And, like it, I wanted to make the dead companions or friends of the characters make an appearance, like in the movie. I didn't because nobody related to the canon characters would have appeared (I didn't touch, not only Mittens' past, but anything related to them that's not in the movie. Though, with some imagination there's a lot of potential there. Penny's father for example). I made the mention of Rhino being 1/16 wolf because even though I've pretty much read every romance-related fanfic of this section, I have never seen a mention of it. For the second song (April Come she will), I tried to adjust the chapter, actions and dialogues to the song, though since I knew what was coming I read slower or faster for it to compile, and it was hard enough to do it in Spanish, I'm not even sure I managed this time. _What do you think of the celebration and everything that happened in it?_

Soul gets "Condemned" to contact with a single being until paying his debt, that Beta gets sent to Oregon with Kia and Erin, that Ómicron heads south to Mexico, the boys leave… all of it is for the future… you'll understand it sometime. Anyway, Ed gets purified and leaves with his students as Umbra and Lux are arriving and then Ed takes all four with him, leaving Umbra and Lux alone again. Now, Soul makes one last "Change", "modification" or anything after asking permission for it in the lives of Bolt, Mittens and Rhino… you'll see. And it has something to do with Mega's explanation, that they can leave the pillar if they want to retire whenever. Curious? Wait and see. The hummingbird also has a meaning, in his dream, but I won't say what it is.

Likewise, Bolt and Mittens spend the night in the barn in chapter 64, a hint of what? It's not difficult to deduce, if it was the last chapter of the fanfic. As a curious fact, Bolt doesn't call Mittens anything, he has no nickname for her, until that morning, when he calls her "pretty", and it's the only time when he calls her something that's not her name and it's friendly, since he calls her other ways when he is with the shadows. Mega owed Bolt 18 bones from the early chapters (Long time since then, huh?), and I decided he wouldn't pat until the very last thing, to help close. And what a better ending than to have them all looking at the night sky, together? _What went over your minds when you saw the story being finished?_

Finally, the saying "Pack, pack; kill, kill," is not mine. It's from the books. Right now it doesn't make any sense what I just said, but you'll see.

Aaaand that's all with the chapters, now there are some other curiosities:

"Advina" stands for "Alien" in Latin. And it's written "Advena", but since the pronunciation is the first one, I decided to save some explanations and yeah.

Dogs don´t really use their claws in combat. As they are not retractable, they wear out constantly so they are like really long nails more than claws. Though, I cannot lie, a scratch, dog or cat, hurts.

[In this space I'll place another curiosity related to the "I'm sorry" story, which is a spoiler, so check this back when that story is finished]

I'm not very good for titles, chapters or stories themselves. I was actually hoping to find another name for the story, but my patience wore out and I just uploaded it like that.

If you like to read, I highly recommend you, again, the books I've mentioned "Warriors" or Warrior Cats, they are very popular everywhere, except in Latin America for what I've seen. Yes, they are all cats, and I guess that's why people don't know about them, I mean I try and explain and they're like "Wait, so they're actual cats? That's weird" and yeah… I hate it when they just jump into conclusions, but whatever.

Did I imply something in the last chapter? Yes, the sequel. Not today, not tomorrow, perhaps not even in four years. But I will. I have some other projects for this site, all of them with the Bolt archive:

-The direct sequel to "Back into Action". That is beyond dispute. And, in fact, if I upload a second part, probably there will be a third one. A triology.

Another one is "I'm sorry", which, by the way is a little inspired by the song "I bet my life" by Imagine Dragons.

Another one would be an interlude between "Back into Action" and its sequel, starring Beta, Kia and Erin as they travel to Oregon. Probably short, 10-20 chapters I guess, with no Bolt, Mittens or Rhino. Nobody on the team actually but them and Soul, with some new characters as well.

I have also thought for an adaptation of a movie I really like (Not star wars for once) with Bolt characters, but I have a question for you: Do you guys know the names of the cats that taunted Bolt in the studio? Do they even have names? I would need them for this. Now, this story is still in my mind, but slowly losing strength, so it may never come. Though, their names would actually be useful.

Last one would be a oneshot, rated "M" (And probably my only fanfic like that), revolving around Bolt and Mittens in their night on the barn; I have a couple sketches on it already, but it's not done.

 _Very, very important: Which one would you like for me to do first? I'll do most of these, maybe even all, but the order is for you to pick. Excepting the one already in progress, of course. And in terms of me working alone, because I have_ another _story sharing with another author, that maybe I'll translate later._

For the last thing: Diego and Fer come from Mexico. There is no much diference until now, but it will. That, in turn, gives a lot of importance to Penny's ability. Another one is that during the whole thing I was fighting myself. Man, in Spanish there was no difference, but in English, I couldn't decide, imperial units or decimals? I used imperial in some chapter, decimal in others and… well, pretty much a mess in that aspect.

Well, more than 7,000 words and I'm just finishing after like a million years. I hope you were not in a hurry. See you in the last part of curiosities.


	68. Curiosities and Credits 3

Curiosities and Credits (part 3)

Well, this is the last part of the curiosities and credits, and we're heading to the most "curious" thing in the story: the philosophical topics. Now, I really do hope this chapter doesn't change the way you see me as an author, or my stories; I merely am trying to explain the things and their reasons.

But first, I'll give you a little explanation on how I see things myself. You see, I "classify" people into two classes (funny how even though it's been long since I first wrote this in Spanish, I still do): Practical and theoretical, or close-minded and open-minded. If, after my poor explanation, you guys think you would fit in the Practical, you're less likely to find any sense of the rest of the chapter, and the other way around. Of course there will be exceptions, and I don't think anyone would actually agree with everything I say on this chapter.

So basically, this would be the part in the credits where the words "the points of view expressed in this work does not represent the creators in any way," would pop out. But they won't, because that would be lying. Pretty much every spiritual and philosophical affirmation in my story comes down from my own beliefs. Another, very important thing now-a-days: I don't intend to offend anyone with this, so if anything does, well I'm sorry, it was not my intention.

Well, here goes nothing.

People today are a lot, and varied among them. So much that, quoting Mega in the first chapters, "what one may say is white, another might prove is black". I see myself as an observer: I don't really interact much with other people, but I observe and analyze what I see they do. Within my observations I have come to classify people into two classes ( with many subclasses, of course): Theoretical and practical. **Clarifying. This is all generalizing; of course there may be exceptions, like in everything else.**

Practical people very within subclasses, but come down to a common thought: Whatever you want, you have to **move** to achieve it. These people usually have no faith in religion and are skeptical, too. Their minds follow what science says; they believe in what you can prove, what you can feel or touch or see or smell. What is corporeal, tangible.

Just like that, theoretical people come down to the thought that everything (or almost everything) is possible. They are people who will probably believe in miracles. Usually religious, spiritual and/or believers of some sort. Their minds won't need a scientific explanation for what's happening, varying according to the person of course. They like to attribute what happens to something else. They follow the metaphysical, what's beyond our senses, what happens backstage.

I'll give you an example (YES, GENERALIZING):

I'm from Mexico. Now, my beloved country is… pretty much as down as it could be. I'm taking insecurity to exemplify. Of course there are insecure zones around the country. A practical person, seeing this, could:

1 Resignation: "Never happened to me, so good luck to those poor souls."

2 Demand, move: Make peaceful marches, ask for the government to do something, expressing in social networks and so on.

3 Take the matter into their own hands: Invest in some private security, a neighborhood alarm, or something similar, not relying on the government to actually do anything for them.

(I repeat, this is GENERALIZING)

A theoretical person would probably:

1 Ignore: Pretty similar to the other "1", but this time under the concept of the law of attraction "If I ignore it, it is not there at all."

2 Asking for help: But not to the government, to God, angels, to the universe, to some deity or superior being.

3 Meditations, praying for it to end: It's not the same s the precvious one. Like with the practical, in this one you're taking the matter in your hands, you're feeling capable of changing things more yourself than the deity. They tend to be more formal and work better for that matter.

Now, it would be more common for younger generations to show a stronger loyalty to their mindset. Practical people will fight tooth and claw to defend their beliefs, and theoretical may not even want to waste time trying to teach the practical their ways. Practical people may wanna hit the gym, make diets, get in physical shape, whilst theoretical might prefer to study, meditate and expand their minds instead.

All of this is generalizing, there are hardcore religious persons who won't think that God will influence in their lives, so they classify as practical.

Another example: if you were to get sick, the first call of a practical person is to go to the doctor, have meds, or maybe even herbal tea. A theoretical person would most likely wonder "what does this sickness means for me?" "What should I be paying attention in my life to?" And instead of medicine, they would probably pray, meditate, use energetic healings, like reiki, and so on.

Now, do you guys see yourself as practical or theoretical? Keep in mind, I haven't met a 100% of any of them, but you surely have a more trusted side. If your answer comes to practical, the rest of the chapter will probably not make any sense, or very little for that matter. If your answer was theoretical, we'll see how far do we agree.

Okay, so now to the real thing.

The first philosophy mentioned is Kass': "Things happen how, when, where, why and with whom they're meant to happen." This derives a little from the thought that "God's times are perfect," and that "what must happen, will." This philosophy attributes that life follows a path and that one does not have to worry, for as ugly or discouraging things may get, it will eventually get solved on its own. I'll give you an example: Let's say this person just lost his job. He still has to eat, pat bills and taxes and so on. Now, this person could fall into desperation and try to get a hold of any job by any means necessary, perhaps a janitor or even something illegal. OR, he could take it slowly, perhaps ask for a little loan to keep going and search for a job according to his actual major (Like, dunno, a doctor). And even though it may take a while, if he doesn't lose faith (in whatever—himself even, doesn't have to be a deity), when the time is right, thig guy will get himself another job, perhaps even better than the last one he had; but that won't happen if this guy gets desperate and takes the first job he sees in front of him out of it.

In this philosophy they also mention that helping someone too much is taking away their chance to learn. For example, let's say your best friend doesn't understand… gee, physics or something, so you decide to help him. There are "good" ways to help, and "bad" ways to help. You have two or three options in general. You could give him your answers; you could do the exercises for him or you could show him how to actually make them. Picking one of the first two would be "bad" help, because you're solving his problems for him, and he never got a chance to do it himself. When the exam comes, he will probably fail, because you took away his chance for learning how to do it. If you chose the third one, maybe at the time it would seem like you're helping less, but when the test comes, your friend will be able to get a good grade, because in the end, he knows how to solve the problem without your total interference. The butterfly example: 'Suppose you find a cocoon, which will soon be a butterfly, and that you "help" the butterfly by opening the cocoon, so it can go out sooner. That butterfly is weak, because you took away its chance for learning.' The thing is not that the butterfly is suffering inside the cocoon, or that it needs help, but the fact that even if you had good intentions by letting it out, you're altering the natural process, and making it harder for the butterfly in the end. If you help too much, people will get used to that and may eventually turn to you for you to solve their simplest, dumbest problems; in a way, you could be making them dependent on you. The thing is not to turn your back to people in trouble, but neither to solve their lives for them.

Soul keeps going with "don't think, feel." This is far more religious and spiritual. You've probably heard about the sixth sense. Have you ever said "this _is_ gonna happen" and it does? Well, I give you, your sixth sense. Premonition, intuition, instinct, whatever you want to call it. It is a tool of perception that warns with no logical background. When you "have a bad feeling about" something, or feel weird in your guts, when you suddenly don't feel like taking that trip you planned for months and can't explain why, it's probably your sixth sense talking to you. How it works, it may be hard to comprehend, but here I go.

Everything is connected. The whole existence. We are all part of one bigger thing. Practical people have a hard time believing it, as well as some theoretical. The point is that we all come from the same place. (The sky, the afterlife, the universe, heaven, whatever you wanna call it). I personally don't think of it as an anthropomorphic God, or as a "person", but rather as a force of some sort, as the universe itself perhaps, and that's the reason why science hasn't—and never will—find "God", because it is not physical, but metaphysical, and there's no way to look in there. Anyways, since we all come from this same 'force', we are all part of it and we are all connected to each other through it. Everything, alive or not, physical or not. Seeing it like that, whoever manages to listen to their instinct (this force talking to them) will be able to simply know stuff, because it is connecting us to everything, and that includes other places or other times. You can feel things that don't "belong" to you, because you are reactivating your connection to this force and that one connects you to everything else.

Anyway, Soul says there are many possibilities and that it's is not forceful to follow his teachings. Same here. Man, I know nothing about you, nor am I anyone to tell you how to live your life. I am just explaining the points of view expressed in the story, and I completely respect yours, whichever they may be. I am, though, logically, asking for respect in return. Brief story: a couple years ago (The original Spanish version says months, but man those are not months anymore), when I first started learning about this and saw that, for example, diseases were just a physical manifestation of a negative emotion, like anger, fear or pain, and that curing them was as simple as feeding oneself with positive energy, I began to spread the word of what I knew with other people. Of course, it was a low percentage for the ones who believed me. It frustrated me a lot to see people struggling when there was such an easier way. Why would they not take such a good opportunity? I felt really frustrated when I saw that people didn't want to open their eyes. Eventually I understood something: it is not my job—or anyone's for that matter—to "evangelize" anyone. People live according to how they want to live and what they can understand. According to some theories of reincarnations, the more lives a soul has lived, the more theoretical or "illuminated" they become. That's why you can't go around trying to nail your ideas into someone's brain. Live and let the others live. Same here: I am not trying to convince you guys, merely expressing my beliefs. If I had written this before, perhaps I would have given evidence, arguments and whatnot, but now… it doesn't matter. Each person is different. If you like, we can talk about it, sure, PM me and we will. If not, doesn't matter.

I tend to consider everything "extraordinary" real: auras, tele-skills (Y'know, telekinesis, teleporting, telepathy, etc.), along with the rest. Hydrokinesis, for example, is the control of water with your mind. Same for the rest: pyrokinesis (fire), geokinesis (earth), aerokinesis (air), cryokinesis (ice), electrokinesis (electricity), umbra—(shadows/darkness), photo—(light), chrono—(time), bio—(DNA and living tissue), crypto—(invisibility), ether—(the fifth element), and so on, and so on. And, if you pay attention to it, pretty much any superpower mentioned ever can be converted into a psychic ability. Even things like the energy balls, which are actually known as psyballs. As I mentioned, they are energy spheres that the maker can program to have certain effects.

As for the Akashic Records, as I said before, you need inner peace. They are this giant library with all the knowledge in existence and whatever.

All of this madness has something in common, and it is that you have to calm your mind. Today's world works in a way that always keeps you moving from here to there and all the way back, not giving you any time for yourself. Some of the people who half-believed me used to say "I tried and it didn't work." Well, it doesn't work if you don't believe it can. "But I did believe!" Nah, you didn't. If you had, it would have worked. That's the thing. Like Yoda says, "you must unlearn what you have learnt, and then learnt he ways of the force," and that's pretty much it. We have lived for years and years believing it's impossible to shoot fire from your hands, thus, we can't out of nowhere start doing it. These are baby steps, and you must believe in this "magic". Like Soul says, "see the world with the eyes of a small kid again, when we jumped in bed saying we could fly… Before our minds got square."

Now there's also some of Buddha's teachings: "What you think, you will be; what you feel, you will attract; what you imagine, you will create." The universal law is the law of attraction, and surely you must have heard of it sometime. You think, you think, you think about something, you keep asking for it and suddenly you have it and you don't know how. That's what it is, and that's where you can start getting a hold of all these different skills. Just like when it was said "A lie repeated a thousand times becomes a truth." Just like that. I don't know where you live, but here, when we were younger and arguing with each other, one would throw an insult to the other one and this one would mostly answer "the one who says it, is it." And that's really how it works, because words are a source of power too; that's why you should be clean with what you say and think, because you are attracting that to your life.

The fun part is, messages like this are everywhere. In movies, videogames, comics, books. The call it the Force, the Great Magic, heaven, look and you will find. Fiction is always telling us everything is possible, but people don't see past the "fiction" part, so all of that knowledge is wasted. Pay attention next time you're watching something like "Star Wars", "The Matrix", "Harry Potter" or so, and you will see how they are telling you pretty much the same I say here.

So, regarding love and fear, which Mega mentions to be opposite in the story. Most people agree that hate is the opposite of love, not fear. Well, yeah, but I am basing my sayings in Abraham Hick's emotional scale. In this scale, indeed, love is the highest (how many times have we heard it is the most powerful thing in the universe?) and fear is the lowest. The full scale is more like this:

Love / Knowledge / Personal Power / Freedom / Joy / Appreciation

Passion

Enthusiasm / Illusion / Happiness

Positive Expectations / Belief

Optimism

Hope

Satisfaction

Boredom

Pessimism

Frustration / Irritation / Impatience

Burden

Disappointment

Doubts

Restlessness

Culpability

Discouragement

Anger

Revenge

Hate / Rage

Jealousy

Insecurity / Remorse

Fear / Despair / Depression / Impotence

So yeah, something like this is what I say in the story, though not to its fullest. The higher you are, the better law of attraction works. The lower, the more "blockages" there are, and it takes longer and harder to work. That's why it doesn't work with a lot of people. You have to be at peace, feeling good, for it to work better and faster; and you have to believe. And even if you are a practical person, you cannot deny that being on the higher steps of the scale is a lot better than being on the lower.

In short, all of this revolves around mastering your mind. Dude, mastering the body is easy: a couple years in a gym, a nice diet, good sleeping habits and you can be a rock. Mastering the mind can take a lifetime, and not because it's false, but because… what's more attractive, playing videogames for three hours or meditating half that time? And that's the problem, too many distractions.

Anyway, this is all too elaborated to keep talking on about it. I said I would express where the philosophical comes from, and I have. The rest is up to you. And, let me repeat, I respect completely if you don't agree with me in any aspect—or at all—, but of course, in return, respect is what I would expect if you don't.

Now, something s little simpler. Soul mentions personalities based on the four elements. This is actually very simple. Everyone knows the four elements: Fire, Air, Water and Earth. Each one has its own characteristics, which makes it different from the other three. In personalities, you just have to check how each one behaves.

Fire is energetic, warm, lighting, and it's the most attractive of them all. Yet, you should not play with fire, for it can burn, and burn badly. Also, if it goes out, it is very hard to light it up again. That is a fire person.

Earth is firm and static. It doesn't move a lot, and it doesn't yield to the wind. It takes time to mold and corrode it, and it is cool. An earth person would prefer quiet things: reading, meditating and so on, rather than going to parties.

Water flows, adapts, is cool and moldable. You can place it anywhere and it will take that shape. But it must flow, keep moving. If you leave it in one place, it rots. Water people are those who have friends in every social circle, and can adapt to new environments easily.

Air is unconquerable, tireless. It comes, it ruffles your hair, and it leaves. It will never stop; you cannot count on it, because today might be windy but tomorrow who knows. Air people are those, not quiet at all, hyperactive, mostly forgetful people who "arrive, move things, and leave"

Of course, they need interaction with each other. Fire needs air to live, but too much can put it out, too. Fire can nourish the earth, but earth can put it out, too. Fire and water… no need for explanations there. When the earth needs to be nourished, it lets itself be consumed by fire. With help of water, earth can create and nurse life. Opposite to fire and water, earth and air tend to just ignore each other, even though air erodes earth gradually, and carries particles of it. Water gets along with air pretty well, since both of them need movement, and their mixture is refreshing, especially on hot days. Water helps earth give life. Water and fire are opposites, mostly will fight each other until one of them prevails over the other. And I already mentioned air with all of them, so…

All of this is an analogy; surely you can relate these personalities and interactions to people you know. Or even with yourselves. People tend to have one or two dominant elements in their personalities; it is rare to see three, and having the fourth would reveal the fifth, though I have no idea what's with that on this aspect.

Now, another thing that is mentioned a lot is the relativity of things. That "good" and "bad" do not exist; the same with the "normal". I guess you know that the world is not black and white. If someone steals, they are judged as bad, but if I tell you that he was stealing to pay medical treatment to his only daughter, then things have already changed. The same with the normal: "Normal does not exist, what for a spider is normal for a fly is chaos." And hence I do not judge anyone. People do what they do by imagining that it is the best thing they can do, and act according to their understanding of things. We do not know anything about anyone, and that is why we have no right to judge. If you are in a hurry, and some "idiot" throws his car at you, the natural reaction is to honk at them. But, if I tell you that that person is rushing to a job interview because he has been unemployed for more than a year and has two children to support? Or that he has just received news that his father is in the hospital because of an accident? In the movie "Interstellar" Dr. Mann mentions something interesting. "We are able to be very empathetic, but that empathy rarely extends beyond our line of sight." What does it mean? That when something heavy happens to us, we ask for understanding. But if it happens to someone else (considering that many times we do not know what is happening), then that person is wrong, crazy, rare or paranoid ... See what I say? We judge without knowing. Even friends, many times we do not know all their chains, the weights that they carry every day when they get out of bed. I am not saying that we should go through life looking for what each person has problems, inquiring into their personal lives, no. I am saying that we can make things a little easier by being always kind, by not judging, by not looking "ugly" at them. Because it may seem pathetic that someone suddenly breaks down in tears just because they told him a slight insult; but in retrospect, it was the insult, plus the burden that his grandmother had just died, and that his dad does not have a job, or does not earn well. That his brothers, because he is the youngest, always treat him badly, that it turns out that he has a very strange chronic disease that does strange things to his body. And then that insult was a drop, but it was the one that spilled the glass. And it is avoided being nice, not judging. No matter how perverse or wicked, strange or incongruous the actions of others may seem, we have no right to judge anyone, and that for the simple fact that we have not lived their lives to say "this is not how you must do it."

Now, I say that I am theoretical, however, I actually live both parts. My dad is the one who taught me a lot, or all, of this. However, my mom is as practical as anyone, like my grandparents, and other adults in the family, so I live both realities at the same time.

To finish, in my opinion, the animals and plants are much wiser than us. Just because "they cannot talk" is that people consider them inferior. They teach us, and many can see beyond. It is said that animals and babies can see people who already transcended (died). Babies lose it because of the society, like many other things, but animals are still capable. And they hold a lot of wisdom, which you can still hear by silencing your mind. With plants it is the same but on a larger scale. They have consciousness, and observing is the only thing they do, since they cannot move and they eat and drink automatically. They are (physically) connected to Earth, and they communicate with each other. In my opinion, a plant has a lot of wisdom, which would only be a matter of listening in order to obtain.

Anyway, I went a long way. I do not know if I explained myself well or not, but honestly, I will not say more about it. This is not the place to start talking about this. I just did what I said I would do, and it was really by putting these issues in the story that I ended up talking about it. In fact, I am considering that this chapter I will erase in some time, they say that what should not be talked about is politics, sports and religion, as they open much to the debate. Anyway, as I said at the beginning, I hope this does not change the way you see me, or my stories. Yes, I will probably keep putting these themes, especially in the sequel to this fic. Yes, you can talk to me, either about this, or with something completely different. I do not usually open these topics if they are not opened by the other person with whom I am speaking, for the same reason. Anyway, I wait for your opinion, and I ask you to continue considering that I respect it completely. I only ask you to be respectful when talking about mine, of course.

One last note, not related: I mentioned the sequel to this story, and that it would probably end up as a trilogy. Well, things will go mad as more progress. Read, there will be more abilities and more extraordinary in the sequel, and probably for the third part the fantasy level will increase a lot. Now, I keep saying fantasy because, although I think all those extraordinary abilities can be achieved in real life, the story itself is a product of my imagination. That and that to say that it can be real (or that it is real) would be something that would open up the topic of debate too much, and I do not want to have to argue politically with anyone.

Well, this was the last chapter of curiosities, so see you later. And be attentive, because you could hear from me sooner than you think, heh. And I mean sooner than this, because it took me like, all the semester to finish a less-than-5000-word-document. Man, college is hard. Anyway, that's all I have to say right now, nos vemos luego!


	69. Post-credits scene

Chapter 65 (69): Post-credit scene

He was fleeing, full speed, from his pursuer. His weren't touching the ground, he had no feet actually, but he was still trying to get away as fast as he could. Among the trees he had left behind, he heard a heart-rending roar, one he had hoped never to hear again. He began to sweat while still fleeing, even though his instinct told him he was losing ground for the millisecond. Trying to push that mentality away, she shook his black head and focused his two gray eyes on the road ahead of him. _I can do it. I can get away, I can get away, I can—_

A sudden blow to his side pulled him out of his thoughts and his track. He reflexively closed his eyes for a moment when he felt something squeeze at his neck. When he opened them, he found his nightmare. A shadow, not huge, but big enough, with four arms and two large, bright, yellow eyes, was lifting him by the neck and holding him against a tree. It was different to any shadow known, its mere presence seemed to be turning the environment to negative, proof of that the flowers and grass around began to rot.

"Benjamin," it said in a cold, dry voice. "You have failed me."

"I-I didn't want to. T-There was nothing I could do…" Benjamin defended himself, helaf out of breath.

"It was simple what I asked," The stranger continued, ignoring Benjamin's attempt at an excuse. "But you couldn't control a simple human and I had to send seven-zero-one. And where is he now, Ben? He's dead. They killed him."

"He killed himself. It was not my fau—"

The stranger whipped Ben against the tree brusquely.

"And why do you think he was forced to do that, stupid?" It yelled at Ben's face. "Because of your incompetence, that's why! Give me a reason not to kill you now, Ben!"

With the stranger squeezing harder at his neck, barely being able to speak and panicking, Ben tried to defend himself in words.

"Wait… I can—I can help you. I know… where the pillar is." He mumbled almost running out of air.

"That's not useful for me."

As desperate as he had ever been, Benjamin made a last attempt to explain why his scarce information should be enough.

"Th-The-Three… entities…" He said with his last breath.

In the following second or two, Benjamin saw all his life, though there was not much to see. He had always been following orders; Centauri's recently and, before that, of the very being who was now ending with his existence. However, the final hit that would kill him never arrived. Not sure he wanted to know what was happening, Benjamin opened one eye, just enough to see. The stranger had loosened his grip, and proceeded to release him when they made eye contact.

"Three entities, huh? Interesting." The stranger placed a hand on its chin and looked around for a few seconds. "Take me to them," he ordered.

Benjamin nodded and vanished in the air, followed by his aggressor, whom he took to the house where the three animals conforming the most recent pillar of light lived. They appeared several meters above the roof. Ben pointed towards the house; moments later, the aggressor was floating down towards it. It stopped after a few seconds and turned to see Ben.

"Get back home. Now."

Ben only nodded, but just before he obeyed a question arose.

"What are you going to do? Will you kill them?"

"No," The stranger answered, raising both hands in a gesture of indifference. "I don't know them, and if they killed one of us I'm not risking it. Observe, Ben. I will observe them… for now."

That being said, the stranger kept going. Ben, resigned, returned home.

* * *

Bolt reached the couch and jumped to it. Mittens followed a moment later, and the two settled down next to Rhino and Penny, who were watching television.

"Hey, guys, what are you watching?" The dog asked.

"Hey, Bolt. Hello, cat… well, nothing much," Rhino answered as Penny nodded, apparently very interested in what was on the screen. "There were no action movies, so Penny just put on one of those canine competitions, you know, where they evaluate the candidates for their physical performance and their aesthetics."

Bolt turned to Mittens.

"He means that in those events they have the dogs through several tests, like catching a frisbee or following an obstacle course. They also check that the participants follow the "standards" of their breed, that is, if they are meant to have short hair, they have it like that, and that they stick to the accepted colors of their breed, and stuff like that, wags," She clarified sweetly before turning to Rhino. "Which, by the way seems to me as a total waste of time and a horrible way to generalize animal beauty."

"Geez, calm down," Rhino replied. "It's just a competition, you don't have to watch it if you don't want to, cat."

"I will take your word." Mittens turned to Bolt again. "You want to come with me outside? Bolt?"

The dog, who had been staring at one corner of the house after hearing his mate's explanation, shook his head and looked onto the same spot a few more moments before returning his gaze towards the cat.

"Huh?"

"Are you okay, Bolt?"

"Y-Yeah; I thought I saw… nothing, I must be going crazy."

Mittens smiled slyly and got off the couch.

"Oh, really?" She asked in a flirtatious tone as she began to move her tail seductively just in front of Bolt's eyes. "Because I could distract you for a little while. You coming with me?"

Bolt didn't answer. The dog was way too busy following her tail with his eyes. Mittens, knowing she had him, walked towards the pet door. As soon as her tail left his sight, he got off the couch and followed her into the garden.

* * *

The whole going had been watched from a corner of the house, the same one Bolt had been staring at, through a pair of large, yellow and invisible to the naked sight eyes. Nothing besides those eyes and a mouth full of long, sharp, dirty fangs, was visible. Hidden as it was, the entity smiled wickedly and vanished in the air, leaving no trace of ever being there.

* * *

Everything was dark. The sky, which normally held at least a spark of sunlight, looked gray, filled and pilled with clouds and clouds. The street looked the same: gloomy and empty at all. On both sides of it there were houses, all of them next to the other and all of them looking mostly the same. They were all broken and corroded. They must have been a place to live at some point, but now, abandoned and hollow, they only made the surroundings creepier.

In the middle of the street, aligned exactly with the center of the rows of houses, there was a small roundabout, a circle, perhaps nine or ten meters in diameter, full of dead and dry grass. In the center of the circle, there was a statue made out of stone, about three meters tall, shaped like a cross. It was overgrown, tilted and broken, cracked all through, and holding some banks of moss. Some vines that hung from it gave it the perfect creepy appearance that blended well with everything else. Some cries of horror and pain were audible, far, far away, constantly. Whenever one would stop, another one would begin, as if they were the natural sound of the air in that dark place.

Suddenly, a strong, dirty-violet-colored light covered everything for a moment, then disappeared. Another one followed, and another and another, until it became something that happened every few seconds. They were lightning bolts, all of them violet, outlining the clouds and briefly illuminating the place every time. The rumblings they caused sounded in the most terrifying way; capable of causing fear even in the bravest of the heroes.

One of the dark lightning struck the highest part of the broken cross. This was much thicker, and caused a much louder burst than the others. When it disappeared, in the place that it had hit there was a spectral body with a couple of big, yellow eyes and a mouth full of powerful fangs. Slowly, a lot of dark energy began to gather around it, forming a physical body, dark violet as well. A couple of hands, or rather, claws, a torso, a head, a neck, all of it turning physical and solid. It had a tail, but no hind legs, as if it were half snake, and it hung from one side of the cross until it reached the ground; at its end, there was a massive, scorpion-like stinger, even though it seemed obvious it was also used for hitting, since it had a rounder appearance and it seemed solid enough to break things.

The entity thundered its knuckles and neck. Then it looked around. As it did so, more lightning began to strike down on the ground, quicker. Through the whole street, on top of the houses, around him. The entity raised one hand into the air, and almost at the moment a lightning hit it. Then another one, and another one, giving it energy to accumulate. Eventually, it held its hands together, concentrating all of the dark energy he had in between them in a small, glowing sphere.

"Here, brothers, begins a new stage," it whispered. "I shall avenge all of you. Light shall fall, and all will belong to darkness. Your sacrifices will not be in vain." It raised both hands, the glowing sphere in between them and shook its tail in excitement. "Now, I call upon every form the Darkness has!"

The being threw the orb with a single hand at a considerable distance, towards the street. Once the sphere reached the floor, it sank into the ground, and for a few seconds nothing happened. Then, the asphalt of the road began to deform from underneath, as if something were trying to break it and get out of the ground. The material gave way after a little while and a hand, moderately rotten and wounded, peeked through the ground. A zombie, in all its expression, had risen, and began to walk towards the cross at a slow pace.

As the undead body staggered forward, the whole area became crowded with more and more cracks in the ground, and more zombies began to rise. Dark lightning also became more frequent in the area; however, now, wherever one would hit, something would spawn. Just a minute or two after the first appearance, the central cross was surrounded by everything: zombies, demons, monsters, urban legends, shadows of very high, unknown ranks, ghosts made entirely out of darkness… The ground trembled as more and more dead bodies rose, and through the gaps they left behind, insects also began to crawl out. Immense spiders of two meters tall, mosquitos of one, scorpions, centipedes, bees, wasps, cockroaches, beetles and ants, all in large groups. Lightning strikes also began to spawn animals. Wolves, dogs, bears, lions, tigers, jaguars, rhinos, crocodiles, hippos, snakes, and even rodents, larger and more intimidating than any known specimen or breed. All these, animals and insects, had their appearance in common. They all were dark in color, or totally black, their eyes in glowing yellow, orange, or red; some of them didn't even had pupils.

By the time the first zombie reached the cross, the entire place was infested with thousands of different creatures moving in the same direction. Seven dark pillars were noticeable among the swarm. Finally, when they all had surrounded the cross, the stranger entity raised a hand, commanding for silence. Everything that was there, every being obeying that command, had something in common: They were all _fears._

The entity smiled again, showing its dirty and dangerous fangs. Perhaps the place had an aura like it was about to give a speech, for it all seemed like that. However, when it opened its mouth, it only said, practically in a whisper: "Pack, pack. Kill… kill."

Few of the present heard it. Silence prevailed. The first zombie, one of the closest ones to the cross, caught the message, and began to repeat, vaguely, "Pack… pack. Pack, pack."

Some other beings close to the zombie heard him, and started to repeat the message. In turn, other entities, close to the previous ones heard them and joined in. In less than a minute, it was all screaming and shouting.

"Pack, pack!" Everyone yowled. "Pack, pack!"

"Kill!" Suddenly interrupted the noise, in a torn and dry voice. It was the zombie, who yowled once more "Kill!"

Like the first time, the new words spread like gunpowder through the entire dark army. Some animals, instead of repeating, began to roar, howl or hiss at the top of their lungs. The caterwauling kept growing and growing, until it was a chilling war cry, accompanied by all types of terrific sounds:

"Pack, pack! Kill, kill! Pack, pack! Kill, kill!"

The stranger, still on the broken cross, smiled wickedly. It gave a strong, ear-piercing roar, that added to the yowling of the dark forces beneath it. Moments later, a dark lightning as big as the one that had brought it there, hit him in the top of its head. By the time the lightning was gone, so was it. There was only left a giant, dark army, made up of all the possible an imaginable fears, in a state of euphoria and with two simple words in their minds.

"Pack, pack! Kill, kill!" They kept all screaming, unconscious or indifferent to the absence of the stranger entity. "Pack, pack! Kill, kill! Pack, pack! Kill, kill!"

* * *

 **And here it is. the official, final, chapter of this story. Yeah, it is not an epilogue, it is a post-credits scene, because... Because. I am deeply sorry for not being active like, the whole semester, but this is it. Sadly, this is the last thing I have to offer right now. But I will try and bring more stories to life, perhaps some one-shots, or perhaps this sequel, because, man, dark times are coming. Anyway, thanks to everyone for reading up to this point. For the last time in some time, this is Advina tuning out. Nos veremos luego, amigos.**


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